RAMMB general members and the RAMMB steering committee have pointed out that Caltrans’s response does not accurately reflect our concerns. To remedy this I sent the following email to Jeneane Crawford of Caltrans. She has acknowledged receipt and thanked me for the clarification:

Hi Jeneane,

The community is pleased and encouraged with your response dated March 14. I want to clarify a point In your email where you said: ” Second, our Property Management team is preparing a vegetation management plan to share with CalFire for their review. Like you, their primary concern is the safety of structures located within 100 feet of any trees”. It is likely you made this statement based on one of the slides in the RAMMB presentation showing that for neighbors of the ROW, it would be impossible to comply with Governor Newsom’s 100 feet of defensible space requirement. The ROW’s trees overhang our properties, making it impossible to have any defensible zone.

However, in the case of the ROW, 100 feet of defensible space is not nearly enough. The ROW is a state-made fire hazard. The 100 feet cited by Governor Newsom is the property owner’s responsibility. The entire ROW is California’s responsibility. It was not a fire hazard before Caltrans acquired it. The local communities should not have to worry about defending their homes against any fire occurring in the ROW, as with proper management, there should be no fire in the ROW.

To summarize, RAMMB and the community expect Caltrans to ensure that there is no significant possibility of fire in the ROW against which we need to defend.

I am happy to discuss this with Caltrans and Calfire.

Sincerely,

Larry De Young