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# Some carobs to be saved after all
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/some-carobs-to-be-saved-after-all/
- Published: 2008-09-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T21:01:40.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Environment, Downtown, #archive-import

*Officials seek public input regarding new trees*

CITY HALL A reassessment of 200 carob trees once condemned for removal might have reversed the fate of a few dozen.

A duo of registered consulting arborists recently gave a second look at a group of declining carob trees that were identified as hazardous to public safety in a previous study by city consultant HortScience, ultimately concluding that about two dozen of the shady specimens could be salvaged for now.

The original study, which was released in April, led City Hall to craft a $395,000 project to remove and replace approximately 300 carob trees citywide, a proposal that galvanized residents in the north of Montana Avenue neighborhood in opposition. The plan came in the wake of a more controversial project to uproot a dozens of ficus trees from Downtown.

The HortScience study rated more than 630 carob trees on a 12-point ranking system that took three factors into consideration — the probability of failing, the size of the portion most likely to fail and the objects on which it would fall. All three factors were rated on a scale of one to four and were added for the final score.

The trees that were ranked as 10 or higher were slated for removal along with a handful that had a lower score but were in poor condition.

About 98 trees were suggested for immediate removal because they posed an imminent threat to public safety. City Hall has since taken care of those trees, according to Elaine Polachek, the director of community maintenance.

City officials decided to reassess the remaining 202 trees — those with a rating of eight or nine — after a community meeting on urban forestry in May when several residents asked for a second opinion.

The second opinion scaled down the number of removals to 177, about 44 of which will go immediately and another 133 at the end of fall. The remainder will be saved with corrective pruning, though city officials said they could eventually go, too.

“They are going to be pruned and watched to make sure they don’t deteriorate to the point where they have to be removed,”Polachek said. “That is something that could occur but we feel we can keep a good eye on them.”

Brian Varnum, who serves on the Board of Directors for the North of Montana Neighborhood Association, said on first read, the second study looked similar to the original.

Varnum was one of the more vocal residents who expressed his objection and questioned the HortScience study.

But he pointed out that nothing was final until a community meeting hosted by City Hall takes place next month and added there was a small victory in saving two dozen carobs.

“Originally they weren’t going to be saved at all,” he said.“That is a good thing to come out of the process.”

More than 60 carob limbs and trees have failed in the city since the 2001-02 fiscal year, more than half of which have gone down since the beginning of 2005.

Some of the more recent failures took place at the end of May, involving fallen limbs from two trees north of Montana — one on the 600 block of Lincoln Boulevard and the other on the 600 block of 12th Street where a branch grazed a parked car. The tree on 12th Street was ranked as having a failure potential of 10.

“Certainly there are a number of these trees that could not be saved and many don’t have a long lifespan ahead of them,”Varnum said.

A community meeting will be held at the Santa Monica Public Library on Oct. 1 at the Martin Luther King Jr.Auditorium.The results of the reassessment will be reviewed at the meeting along with the tree removal schedule.

City Hall plans to use the neighborhood associations as a forum through which residents can provide their input on what sorts of replacement species they would like to see on their streets. The new trees have already been identified for some streets in the Community Forest Management Plan.

Varnum said he is currently trying to recruit some neighbors to chip in for larger replacement trees that come in a 48-inch box, lessening the immediate impact of losing the canopy from the existing carob trees.

The lack of shade has been one of the biggest issues for residents in the neighborhood.

While City Hall has been criticized the past year because of its ficus tree project, which eventually went to court,Varnum said that city officials have been good in reaching out to residents and soliciting their input.

He added that he hopes City Hall will be able to address some of the underlying problems that led to the deteriorating state of the carobs.

“I feel fairly positive out of a bad situation there are some good developments,” Varnum said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 15, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)