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D. Council Member Leipzig removed this item from the Consent Calendar for discussion at this time. JAMES AVENUE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT, TREE REMOVAL (205,304) REPORT: Senior Civil Engineer Brian Lee, April 6, 1998 Vice Mayor Ruskin, Chair of the Council Tree Committee, said that the Council, in response to neighbors complaints regarding the removal of a large number of trees in the Roosevelt area, had enacted a moratorium on removing trees as part of the sidewalk improvement program. He said that he and Council Member Hartnett were the two members of the Tree Committee, and Council Member Ira had also participated in the meetings. Vice Mayor Ruskin said that the contract for James Avenue Reconstruction had been awarded long before the moratorium was put into effect, and the moratorium was restricted to trees removed "in the normal course of sidewalk repair. Our effort now is to find a way to preserve more old, large trees while we simultaneously fix the sidewalks." Vice Mayor Ruskin described the Committee's meeting with the Roosevelt area neighbors and what trees would be replanted. He said the Committee was reformulating the City's tree removal policy, and "the moratorium will be in effect until at least July 1." Vice Mayor Ruskin said it would cost the City $1 million if the James Reconstruction Project were stopped at this point. He said, "This is not the same situation as the normal course of improving sidewalks. Here we have an attempt to completely reengineer, restructure a street that has been a traffic and safety problem.... It is a narrow street on which there is a school. The safety of children as well as others is at stake. In reengineering the street we will be creating bus pullouts. In the past, buses have had to stop right in the middle of the street creating a back-up.... There has been a shortage of parking. Now we will be creating diagonal parking." Vice Mayor Ruskin described the difficulties trying to turn onto EI Camino from James and onto James from EI Camino. He described the plans to create a new right hand turn lane off James, "and the School District has given us an easement so that we can widen the turn from El Camino onto James. This is an attempt to restructure, reengineer, rebuild the street from the bottom up in order to create one on which the traffic flows better and will be safer for everyone, including the school children." He described the meeting the Committee had with the James Street neighbors, and said, "Although there were some differences of opinion, I think it is safe to say that most people favored what was about to happen. One gentleman wanted us to look into a stop sign, and we will look into that... Most of the neighbors felt that the improvements were worth it." He said that using what the Committee had learned from the moratorium, staff is planning to plant larger trees than what had been planned originally. He said, "Approximately 17 trees were being removed. Approximately 30 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 APRIL 6,1998 MINUTES Page No. 366 PAGE 6