The recent storm has given the Des Moines City Council an opportunity to demonstrate leadership by preserving the safety of its citizenry with an ordinance limiting the height of trees on private property.

We all paid the price for the few irresponsible tree lovers.

The ordinance could be as simple as no tree shall be higher than the roof of the highest building on the property, and certainly no higher than its proximity to any utility lines. There would be no trees planted underneath the utility lines or anywhere near the utility set back.

Any tree that is diseased or dead must be cut down and replaced by two trees whose species is such that the height would be limited to the existing property buildings.

This ordinance would serve the community in two ways: power outages would be minimized; it would enhance property values because more people would have view access to Puget Sound, which is an asset in our waterfront community.

We could all still be lovers but the trees would be shorter, and if you need to see higher trees the trek to the local/national parks is very close for everyone.

Any property owner failing to comply with this ordinance within a reasonable time period would be required to post a Power Interruption Bond of $20,000 in an interest-bearing escrow account maintained by the city that would go to any property owner within the given power sector or grid for replacement of any goods destroyed by the power outage plus payment to the utility to repair and restore the power.

A similar bond would be required for those property owners with trees that have a likelihood of falling into a neighbor's structures or property as determined by the Des Moines public safety officer.

This ordinance would place the responsibility for public safety where it belongs-right on the offending property owner.

Gary Kennedy

Des Moines