City Chooses Ficus Trees for Main Street Despite Controversy

Much like their roots, debate about the ficus tress on Main Street just won’t go away.

After twice voting to plant 25 new ficus trees on Main Street in the past month, the Seal Beach City Council again debated the costs and benefits of the trees Monday night as dozens of residents and business owners offered impassioned pleas for and against the trees. In the end, the council would not be dissuaded from planting more ficus trees.

For the trees’ detractors, the problem lies with its aggressive root systems, which have disturbed sidewalks, curbs, sewer lines and building foundations.

Despite the tree’s reputation for damage, its roots can be controlled, it’s the most suitable for the climate, and its rich canopy adds to Main Street’s charm, said Councilwoman Ellery Deaton, the council’s primary ficus advocate

People come to Seal Beach because “It’s romantic. It’s because it’s charming. It’s because it’s cute, and it’s our responsibility to keep it that way,” said Deaton. “What’s realty important to me is that this little village is still here.”

Chainsaw the trees, add a Starbucks and MacDonald’s and the charm of Main Street will disappear, added Deaton.

“I do not oppose Councilwoman Deaton’s dream of having a uniform look to trees along Main Street,” said Mayor Michael Levitt. “I do oppose planting ficus trees without further study.”

Levitt called on the council to seek out a species that would be less disruptive.

“We won’t have to pay for the cost of these new trees. Our kids will,” he said.

“Let’s find out if our businesses really want new ficus trees in front of their stores,” he added.

Several Main Street business owners spoke out against the ficus trees Monday night except for Brian Kyle, owner of six properties on Main.

“I think the ficuses have done well,” said Kyle, who has only once had to contend with root damage in 30 years.

Over the years, the community has found ways to better contain the roots as the trees grew tall, he said.

“Now they are grown up above everyone’s signs,” added Kyle. “It’s what we envisioned.”

However, buttressing and pruning the roots will only lead to damaged trees, predicted Brita Lemmon, owner of .

“The lifespan of theses trees has been reduced because of this work,” she said. Eventually, falling limbs and dying trees will create a safety hazard and liability for the city, she predicted. In the eight years before the ficus tree in front of her Main Street business was removed, Lemmon said she saw three women fall and break their hips after tripping over sidewalks upended by the roots.

Main Street business owner Joe Kalmick’s mother was one of the women who tripped over the roots of a ficus on Main Street, breaking her hip.

“To consider alternative species of trees, I don’t think would ruin the ambiance that we are trying to achieve,” he told the council.

Main Street business owner Woody Woodruff also encouraged the council to consider alternatives. Just because the community inherited the 50-year-old ficuses already lining Main Street, doesn’t mean that the city should continue to plant new ones, knowing the destruction their roots can cause, said Woodruff. He lugged a pile of Ficus roots recently pulled up from beneath a Main Street remodeling project to the council meeting to illustrate his point. Woodruff compared the trees to an unruly teenager who trips old ladies and vandalizes buildings.

However, the ficus is the city’s most viable option, said Robert McMahon, the arborist hired by the city.

There are seven types of trees on Main Street, but only the ficuses are doing well, he told the council. The three blocks of Main Street offer three different microclimates, and the trees have to be able to withstand heavy winds, and salt sprays.

Any tree that offers a full canopy is going to have roots that spread out and could potentially damage sidewalks, he said.

“There is no magic tree,” he added.

The trees are part of Main Street’s unique charm, added Seal Beach resident Carla Watson. Any sizeable tree will have a root system to contend with, “and I think it’s something we can handle,” she said. “I just don’t think the problem is as big as they are making it out to be.”

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Did the council make the right decision by sticking with the ficuses?