An unnamed city official announced that Carmel-by-the-Sea will hold a public meeting to review a near-final draft of the Carmel Forest Master Plan and said city foresters will remove a failing Monterey pine at City Hall on a coming Saturday and replant a specimen-size replacement.

The draft plan will be presented at a community meeting on the 20th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in council chambers, the official said, and the draft will be posted on the city's website the same day. The official said the plan will be sent to the city’s environmental consultant, DudaC, for environmental review before planning commission consideration and a possible council adoption early next year.

Why it matters: the plan frames how the city will manage roughly 13,000 public trees, prepare for climate-driven changes to species suitability and guide street-tree and forest stewardship across the village.

Justin Ono, identified in the meeting as a certified master arborist and City Forest Peer, said the forest plan and related tree work aim to maintain a mix of tree ages and species while preparing for future climate conditions. "We work in paradise," Ono said, adding that the plan seeks to keep mature trees healthy while also planting younger trees. Ono said, "We should be — I feel like we have a really solid draft." The official said the process began around 2021 and has included multiple Forest and Beach Commission meetings, a steering committee and three or four public meetings.

The official described changes in the plan's name and scope during the multi-year process, saying it had been called the forest management plan, an urban forest plan and is now the Carmel Forest Master Plan. The official credited Ken Wysocki, the city's new director, for reinforcing the plan's scientific and natural-resource focus, and also noted work by staffer Renee on new street trees.

On the City Hall tree: Ono described a Monterey pine outside City Hall that has declined and become brittle. "It's gonna start dropping branches. So we're gonna take it out on a Saturday," Ono said, adding that the removal should be quick and that the stump will be ground and replaced with another large Monterey pine. The official said the replacement should be a specimen-size tree that can grow with the community.

The draft plan's next steps, as described at the meeting, are environmental review by the named consultant, subsequent review by the planning commission and then a return to the city council for adoption. The official encouraged public attendance and public steering-committee feedback during the scheduled community meeting and said the city placed a display ad in The Pine Cone and will include notice in its Friday newsletter.

No formal motions or council votes were recorded in the transcript for the master plan or the City Hall tree removal; the discussion described staff plans and the public engagement schedule. The transcript did not specify the environmental-review timeline, the consultant's full legal name beyond the spoken form, or the exact date of the Saturday removal beyond the characterization "on a Saturday."