City to Remove 100 Eucalyptus Trees After Woman's Death

Irvine Avenue in Newport Beach will be closed in both directions the next two days while crews remove about 100 blue gum eucalyptus trees, a city official said.

The decision to uproot the decades-old row of trees comes on the heels of a Thursday accident in which a 10-ton eucalyptus toppled onto the road, crushing a passing car and killing 29-year-old Haeyoon Miller.

Plant experts have since examined the rest of the trees and recommended removing all of them.

“We asked the team of arborists to first focus their attention on the remaining trees. That has been the priority for the past four days,” said City Manager Dave Kiff. “The arborists called for the removal of the trees. They suggest that the eucalyptus ‘hedgerow’ that was initially planted many years ago could have been affected as individual trees aged, were removed or fell.”

The trees on the Irvine Avenue median between Westcliff/17th Street and Dover Drive will be removed by West Coast Arborists, according to city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan. 

The process will begin Wednesday. Irvine Avenue will be closed in both directions beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and should reopen Thursday evening. The trees will be removed in two phases, the first includes removing the trees and the second includes removing the stumps at a later time. The total cost of the project is right under $100,000, Kiff said.

The tree that fell down last week is still under examination. A public discussion panel will be held to determine what the new street trees should be.

"Taking out all of the trees is a heartbreaking decision for us because this is a community that loves our trees," Kiff said. "Because of Ms. Miller's death last week, we feel the best thing to do is remove them all."

Tiffany Carter contributed to this story.