Burlingame's Easton tree grove rooted in history

Whether residents love or hate the trees, they are part of the city’s history because around 250 eucalyptus trees were planted along Easton Drive in the 1870s by Golden Gate Park gardener John McLaren, also responsible for the eucalyptus grove on El Camino Real in the city. The road was originally a half-mile driveway to the Black Hawk Estate, owned by the Easton family, City Arborist Richard Holtz said.

The City Council voted to stay with the lemon-scented gum eucalyptus, 4-1, citing it wants to retain the look of the historic grove as much as possible. Councilmember Emily Beach voted with the residents, stating she is concerned that keeping the tree grove to one variety presents risks of disease.

“It does give me pause, particularly, if a number of residents want to have a choice. I think the most important thing is it has a very large beautiful full canopy,” Beach said. “Maybe, giving residents a choice wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

Holtz said the lemon-scented gum is a cousin of the eucalyptus tree but is smaller.

“There are some benefits to it, like they are very well suited to our climate, they are drought tolerant, they have low root infrastructure conflict, this particular species is aesthetically valued as a striking white bark, it tolerates pruning well and has a long life expectancy,” Holtz said.

Last winter’s storms caused more than 50 trees in the city to fall and the city has worked since August to remove 18 unsafe trees on Easton Drive. The lemon-scented gum eucalyptus was planned in 2007 by the Beautification Commission. The city recently received a petition from residents on Easton Drive, between Balboa Avenue and Vancouver Avenue, requesting for multiple varieties of native trees that are smaller and easier to maintain, according to a staff report.

Brownrigg said the 28-foot setback from the curb to the residents’ homes makes him believe the designers of the city intended Easton Drive to be a special place to showcase landscaping.

Vice Mayor Donna Colson said her biggest concern for allowing different varieties of trees is the streets will no longer have the same feel and could risk only a few trees being replaced, which could take away from the grandiose canopy.

The city has planned to replace some of the oversized and shallow-rooted, blue and red gum eucalyptus trees since 2007. The Beautification Commission identified the 1500-2000 blocks of Easton Drive as a themed block, which means anytime a tree is removed it would be replaced with lemon-scented gum eucalyptus, according to the report.

“It doesn’t at all mean that we are going to go in and remove trees to establish a species, establishing a themed block can take generations,” Holtz said.

During the meeting, the city came up with multiple suggestions that fit within the petitions request, a coast live oak and camphor, the idea Holtz presented to the council was, if approved, the residents could decide on which variety they wanted in front of their respective homes.

“To me, as soon as you have a mix of trees you just have any old street on Burlingame, which are all beautiful but it’s not special,” Brownrigg said.