There are plenty of guidelines and recommendations for developers related to tree upkeep in Buellton, but not enough enforceable do’s and don’ts, some city officials recently argued.
“I don’t like the fact that, … ‘Should’ leads to ‘I don’t need to,’” Buellton Mayor David Silva said at the council’s Nov. 13 meeting.
The city is currently working toward applying for a Tree City USA designation, which requires adopting a formal tree ordinance.
Buellton’s current rules regulating trees on public and private properties are scattered across a handful of city documents, which Silva proposed that staff use to draft a single policy dedicated to tree use, removals, and conservation.
“It would make it easier on staff to have some objective standards or centralized location for all things trees,” Buellton Planning Director Andrea Keefer said at the hearing.
Keefer described some of Buellton’s existing tree policies as “more visionary than regulatory.” For example, the city doesn’t require parking lot developers to facilitate varying ratios of canopy coverage depending on the lot size, which Councilmember Hudson Hornick said he would like city staff to explore in terms of setting a potential canopy rule in the future.
“The municipal code broadly touches upon the tree requirements for landscape plans, also regulations pertaining to street trees and their watering, etc.,” Keefer told the council. “The most detailed are in the native tree protection ordinance and the community design guidelines.”
While the native tree protection ordinance solely applies to three types of trees—oaks, sycamores, and cottonwoods—native to Buellton and “certain circumstances when they may be removed,” the community design guidelines are in place for incoming developers to consider when proposing a project, Keefer said.
“I think that if we are looking for future developments coming in, that’s a good place to start putting in some of these objective standards,” Mayor Silva said. “This is a bigger conversation. There will be a lot of Planning Commission [input] and dialogue. … My biggest guidance is let’s have staff bring through, … a thoughtful update.”
On the different tree policy tidbits Keefer compiled from various city documents, Silva said with a laugh that he “would never be able to navigate all of this.”
“Let’s look for those on-purpose or maybe inadvertent loopholes that have been plaguing our code,” he added. “Let’s check and see if we can close some of these loops that need to be closed if we really want to see change.”
The council directed staff to return with future recommendations on objective tree standards to codify. Following Keefer’s presentation, City Manager Scott Wolfe outlined another proposed ordinance on tree management procedures.
“It’s an evening of trees,” Silva said before Wolfe introduced the item.
Wolfe explained that the ordinance would recognize the Buellton Planning Commission as the city’s official tree and landscape advisory board, to “address issues and mediate disputes” related to tree removals.
The Planning Commission currently acts in this capacity, but the ordinance formally identifies it as fulfilling the role, Wolfe explained. The policy passed its first reading with a 5-0 vote.
This article appears in Nov 20 – Nov 27, 2025.
1000 tree initiative, Buellton
Tomorrow, (31) trees sponsored by the community, and planted by volunteers, will find permanent homes to grow roots at the Oak Valley Elementary School. The goal is to beautify and shade additional areas the school campus, including play ground and sports fields where sun exposure is high. Prior to Saturdays scheduled planting day, trees have been planted at Riverview Park and at the new Library in Buellton, sponsored by 1000 tree initiative.
The goal is to provide urban forestry city, with up to 1000 trees planted in the next three to five years,. It is an educational project, selecting a
Combination of California native trees, as well as drought tolerant Mediterranean and semi desert trees.