TO: COMMUNITY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
FROM: JEREMY SWAN, COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
DATE: JUNE 3, 2026
SUBJECT:
Title
CLAREMONT BOULEVARD CENTER MEDIAN TREE REMOVALS AND PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY IMPROVEMENTS - CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE
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SUMMARY
During the review of the landscape plans for the Claremont Boulevard Improvement Project, it was determined that the existing raised center median design is neither sustainable nor efficient for long-term maintenance and infrastructure performance. The current mounded median configuration has created ongoing maintenance challenges, including difficulties accessing and servicing landscaped areas and causing materials such as mulch, stones, and soil to tumble into travel lanes. Additionally, the raised medians pose safety concerns due to limited visibility for vehicles and pedestrians. The elevated grading also contributes to inefficient irrigation performance, as water runoff limits effective absorption by the plants and increases runoff to the streets and stormwater system.
The raised elevation of the existing trees has also resulted in significant root-related impacts to adjacent roadway infrastructure. Over the years, tree-root uplifts have caused damage to the street pavement, requiring the City’s Engineering Division to perform numerous repairs and ongoing maintenance activities to address safety concerns.
Based on these considerations and more appropriate current practices, the City has requested that the existing center medians be regraded and lowered to create a more sustainable and maintainable depressed median design. Implementation of the revised design will require Claremont McKenna College (CMC) to remove fifty-seven street trees located within the center median along Claremont Boulevard. These trees include Red Iron Bark Eucalyptus, Afghan Pine, and Valley Oaks, larger species inappropriate for their location in a narrow median.
Once the median is regraded and new irrigation and stormwater catchment features have been added, at least fifty-seven new replacement trees will be planted within the redesigned center median. In addition, new trees will be planted along both the eastern and western parkways of Claremont Boulevard. The project will also include a variety of additional plant species and landscape materials within the parkways and protected bike lane medians to enhance the overall streetscape, improve sustainability, and provide long-term aesthetic and environmental benefits.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Community and Human Services Commission:
A. Approve the removal of fifty-seven street trees along Claremont Boulevard between Sixth Street/Arrow Route and Foothill Boulevard to accommodate construction of the Claremont McKenna College Roberts Campus East Sports Bowl Project and related complete streets improvements; and
B. Approve the revised Designated Street Tree List for Claremont Boulevard.
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ALTERNATIVE TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the staff recommendation, there is the following alternative:
• Request additional information from staff.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Claremont McKenna will be responsible for all costs associated with the tree removals and replacements, the planting of additional landscaping per the approved plan, and the preparation of this report.
ANALYSIS
Background
On December 13, 2016, the City Council approved the East Campus project, which included a full Environmental Impact Report, Parcel Map 70243 and a Development Agreement for the completion of public improvements. The City Council approval required the Claremont University Consortium (CUC) to complete public improvements along the east side of Claremont Boulevard between Arrow Route and Foothill Boulevard.
Since these approvals, Claremont McKenna College has acquired the East Campus parcels and associated project to develop the Roberts Campus Sports Bowl and thus is now responsible for the required public improvements identified in the Development Agreement. The required public improvements include incorporating the complete streets design and traffic calming components such as curb extensions, Class IV (protected) bike lanes, narrowed traffic lanes, and more pedestrian-friendly parkway/sidewalk options consistent with the City’s ADA Transition Plan, along with enhanced landscaping features. The City is actively working on the design of this portion of the Claremont Boulevard to provide a continuous complete streets corridor, consistent with current practices.
As part of the plan check process for the landscape plans, joint meetings were held between the Community Development Department and Community Services Department to discuss irrigation systems, plant species, tree types, and the overall design of Claremont Boulevard. As part of these meetings, it was discussed that the center medians as currently designed are not sustainable or efficient for long-term maintenance and infrastructure performance. The current mounded median configuration has created ongoing maintenance challenges, including difficulties accessing and servicing landscaped areas. The raised medians also pose safety concerns due to limited visibility for vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and the City continually receives complaints due to landscaping and low-hanging trees blocking visibility. When maintaining the Claremont Boulevard medians, the City’s contractor must close a full lane of traffic due to difficulty traversing the medians with landscaping equipment, affecting traffic in the area. The raised elevation of the existing trees has also resulted in significant root-related impacts to adjacent roadway infrastructure, creating safety concerns.
The CMC Claremont Boulevard Complete Streets Project will deliver a newly paved, complete streets corridor subject to moratorium requirements. Under moratorium, the pavement and infrastructure restoration limits and requirements are more extensive than typical trench/root lifts repairs, increasing City’s maintenance costs. The existing mounded conditions require ongoing repairs provided on regular basis, every six to twelve months. With the new project, if ongoing tree root lifts are not addressed, the newly paved roadway and new complete streets infrastructure (e.g. raised medians, Class IV bike lanes) would be damaged within a short time frame, creating safety concerns for motorists and cyclists.
In addition, statewide guidelines for water-wise landscaping discourage irrigation on slopes adjacent to paved surfaces, such as the current median design, because of inefficiencies due to runoff. Irrigation water does not have time to soak into the soil before it runs off into the street, creating both waste and nuisance water. This runoff also causes greater wear to street surfaces, further increasing street maintenance costs.
Lower median surface levels will also allow for additional stormwater catchment, as the water that falls within the median will be retained and percolated into the soil, reducing runoff, irrigating the landscape, and recharging local aquifers. While not fully designed yet, the medians could also include stormwater recharge in bioswales to further enhance this element of the design and assist the City in meeting stormwater catchment mandates set by the State.
Based on these considerations, the City has requested that the existing center medians be regraded and lowered to create a more sustainable and maintainable depressed median design. This is consistent with the more current median design approaches used for Foothill Boulevard Master Plan Implementation Project and the Towne Avenue Complete Streets Project. Implementation of the revised design will require CMC to remove fifty-seven street trees located within the center median along Claremont Boulevard. CMC’s consulting arborists for the project, Carlberg Associates, have reviewed the Claremont Boulevard Complete Streets project and documented the majority of trees within this corridor; however, the report did not include the Claremont Boulevard median trees located between Foothill Boulevard and a point approximately 450 feet north of Sixth Street/Arrow Route.
Removals
The tree removals will include twenty-five trees from the center median between Sixth Street/Arrow Route and Ninth Street and thirty-two trees between Ninth Street and Foothill Boulevard. To accommodate the depressed center median design, the existing trees will need to be removed, because of extensive regrading to lower elevations of the medians, exposing the existing tree root system. The trees that will be removed have been summarized in the table below.
Exhibits and tables from the amended arborist report dated October 23, 2025, are included as Attachment A. Photos of select trees are included as Attachment B.
Replanting
The planting plan for the new roadway will mimic those for Foothill Boulevard and Towne Avenue, to include a variety of trees and plant species intermingled with areas of cobble and mulch. Currently, the Designated Street Tree List includes the species below. As the City moves to “right tree, right place” planting of new trees, some of the designated species have been deemed inappropriate for the medians along Claremont Boulevard.
Staff recommends revising the current Designated Street Tree List to include the following species for Claremont Boulevard between Foothill Boulevard and Sixth Street/Arrow Route:
There will be a minimum of 57 trees in the median and many more new trees planted in the parkways on Claremont Boulevard as part of this project. The trees will generally be 24” box in size; however, some larger sizes may be required for certain varieties/locations. The new trees will be selected and located to provide a variety of canopy sizes, structure, foliage, and color.
CEQA REVIEW
This project, the relandscaping of Claremont Boulevard median adjacent to the CMC East Campus Sports Bowl, is categorically exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Section 15301(c), in that the project consists of the maintenance and repair of an existing street with no expansion of its use, and Section 15304(b), in that it consists of the replacement of existing conventional landscaping with more water efficient landscaping. Therefore, no further environmental review is necessary.
COUNCIL COMMITTEE/COMMISSION REVIEW
As part of the City approval process for the East Campus project, a request for the removal of eight trees was reviewed by both the Tree Committee and the Community and Human Services Commission. On September 28, 2016, the Tree Committee reviewed the request for the tree removals and voted to recommend that the Community and Human Services Commission approve the removal of eight trees and require replacement with sixteen trees. On October 5, 2016, the Community and Human Services Commission reviewed the same request for tree removals and voted to recommend that the City Council approve the removal of the eight trees and require replacement with sixteen trees.
On December 13, 2016, the City Council approved the Claremont Colleges East Campus project, including a full Environmental Impact Report, Parcel Map 70243 and a Development Agreement for the completion of public improvements. The City Council approval required CUC to complete public improvements along the east side of Claremont Boulevard between Arrow Route and Foothill Boulevard.
On May 27, 2021, the Traffic and Transportation Commission initially reviewed the Claremont Boulevard Complete Streets improvements associated with the project. An update at the September 25, 2025 meeting primarily focused on the upcoming construction, proposed street closure, and associated traffic impacts. While the Commission supported the complete streets improvements, Commissioners shared concerns with existing trees affecting the safety of pedestrians and cyclists and compromising ADA access.
On November 5, 2025, the Community and Human Services Commission voted to approve a request to remove twenty-three trees along Claremont Boulevard between Sixth Street/Arrow Route and Foothill Boulevard to accommodate construction of the Claremont McKenna College Roberts Campus East Sports Bowl Project and related complete streets improvements. An excerpt from the meeting minutes is included as Attachment C.
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
The agenda and staff report for this item have been posted on the City website and distributed to interested parties. If you desire a copy, please contact the City Clerk’s Office.
Submitted by: Prepared by:
Jeremy Swan Jasmin Hurtado, P.E.
Community Services Director Associate Engineer
Reviewed by:
Maria Tipping, P.E.
City Engineer
Christopher Veirs
City Planner
Attachments:
A - Exhibit and Tables from Arborist Report - Amended 10-23-25
B - Photos of Select Trees
C - Excerpt from the 11-05-25 CHS Commission Meeting Minutes