Yesterday, Bryan received permission from the City of Monte Sereno to remove the Hollywood Juniper from the back of the house.  Essentially, a Hollywood Juniper is a bush, or shrub, and is not covered by the Significant Tree ordinance.

We like to be squeaky-clean when it comes to following the ordinances in the City of Monte Sereno.

10.15.030 Significant trees; definition.

Trees deemed significant for the purpose of this Chapter are those whose visual importance to the neighborhood is sufficient to justify special efforts to protect and preserve them and whose loss would be of irremediable adverse impact on the environment. Factors to be considered in determining the significance of trees are age, size, rarity and appearance. Notwithstanding the preceding, each of the following is declared to be a significant tree or trees:

A. Oaks or redwood trees having a circumference greater than twenty (20) inches measured at a height of four (4) feet above ground level.

B. Any tree having a circumference greater than twenty-five (25) inches measured at a height of four (4) feet above ground level.

C. Any three (3) or more trees proposed to be removed from any parcel of property within a twelve (12) month period

Nik and Bryan worked on removing the Hollywood Juniper and then they made three trips to Guadalupe Land Fill with the debris.  Importantly, Guadalupe recycles and reuses garden waste so there was no land fill issues associated with the removal of the Hollywood Juniper.

Kate and Jo-Anne documented the event.  Kate will have an opportunity to help Bryan next Saturday …

Bryan starting to cut the Hollywood Juniper.

Under Nik's directions, Bryan continues cutting the Hollywood Juniper.

Kate and Bryan resting after cutting down (most of) the Hollywood Juniper.

Nik cooling off in the trench and enjoying some cold water.

The Hollywood Juniper at Guadalupe Land Fill, ready for recycling.

The job site is relatively clean at the front of the property. This space will be needed to pur the dirt from our upcoming trenching activities.

The stump from the Canary Island Pine remains at the job site. We had planned to use the rented chain saw to cut the stump into pieces. It is too large so we will engage someone with a stump grinder to address this issue so we can start trenching at the front of the property.

I picked up our building permit from the City of Monte Sereno today at 10:15 am! After paying the school fees yesterday and engaging Charlie Touchatt to excavate the basement, having the building permit in hand was sweet!

I called Bill Brown and everyone else involved so we could start mobilizing to start the excavation on Monday morning.

At the same time, I was looking at the materials that were delivered yesterday to build the temporary deck to cover the swimming pool. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the quality of the materials as the tongue and groove plywood was badly warped. I suspect that this will make the installation more difficult and time-consuming, but it was too late to replace the materials.

Warped Plywood for Pool Deck

It is a beautiful blue-sky California fall day and I’m looking forward to Paul’s arrival so we can get the deck built to cover the swimming pool.

Pool Cover Site

Charlie delivered the excavator to the project site at 4:30 pm so we can ‘break ground’ on Monday morning.

Yeah!

Oh, I almost forgot. I engaged Jose’s tree service to remove the 75 ft tall Canary Island Pine tree on Saturday. It is time for everyone to pay their last respects to the tree. I have to confess that I was saddened by the upcoming event.

Last respects to Canary Island Pine

Yesterday, while I was attending Ernst & Young’s 2008 Financial Reporting Development workshop in Mountain View (hey, I need those CPE credits!), Michael and his team completed backfilling the pool and compacting the soil.

Today, I was on site for our weekly construction progress meeting at 9:00 am and was impressed with the work completed yesterday.

After the meeting, I went to the City of Monte Sereno and learned that my permit was not ready to be issued. Daylight is burning …

Charlie Touchatt, the excavator and hauling sub-contractor, visited the site in the afternoon and we went to a potential site that needs soil in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Charlie, who is a native of San Mateo and has been involved with the development of the peninsula over the past 50 years, shared some interesting stories with me as we drove back to 17509.

SpaGood Compaction on Backfill

Deep End of Pool Looks GoodSteps Into Pool

Elevations were Taken from the Monument

Steps Out of Deep End

Compaction Behind Free-Standing Wall

Ready for the Pool Cover Now!