The Urban Forestry Administration (UFA) has established a new policy for property owners who are concerned about the yearly inconvenience caused by falling female ginkgo tree fruit.

Today, UFA sprays these trees with a mild pesticide each spring  to halt fruit development. Some residents are not satisfied with this practice because the treatment is not always effective and sometimes difficult to complete within the tight time window available; still others are concerned about pesticide use (see below). In response, UFA has developed a process that will allow property owners to decide, on a block-by-block level, if they wish to have one or more of these trees removed, and replanted with another tree type. That process is as follows:

• Submit a petition to UFA identifying the tree(s) in question, and the name, address, and contact number of all the property owners on that block. Each property owner on the block must sign to “agree” or “disagree” with the petition, and only one “vote” per property will be accepted in the final count. If a signature is not provided for a particular address, UFA will assume that the property owner(s) at this address do not agree with the petition. You may use this sample spreadsheet ^[PDF] to collect signatures.
• At least 60 percent of the property owners must agree with the proposed removals for the petition to be considered. In the case of owner-occupied apartment buildings, a single vote from the governing body of the building will count as the vote for that property. If this threshold is met, UFA will forward the petition to the elected Council Member within the affected ward, as well as the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC). The ANC will have 60 days to respond in writing to either support or reject the petition.
• If the ANC supports the petition, UFA will schedule the removals based on staffing levels and contract funding availability - usually within six months. Replanting will occur after removal in the next cycle's planting season. If the ANC rejects the petition, or does not respond within 60 days, the petition fails and will not be considered for another two years' time.
• See the Map for year 2012 Female Ginkgo Tree Spraying Treatment

Although UFA will continue its current practice of spraying female ginkgo trees each spring to retard fruit development, we hope this policy will offer an alternative for those who are not satisfied.