Kate O. Sessions is known as the Mother of Balboa Park, but it would not be incorrect for her also to be known as the Mother of Mission Hills (or at least a mother alongside Sarah Johnston Cox who built the first home in the area).

After all, Sessions founded San Diego’s first commercial nursery there in 1910, at one point owned much of the real estate, and was influential in convincing John D. Spreckels to bring a streetcar out along Fort Stockton. With the new connection between Downtown and the empty land, roads were improved and the neighborhood was quickly built up by George Marston, becoming the streetcar suburb with dense homes it is today.

For some locals passionate about history, the neighborhood, and the city, could do more to remember her.

The nursery she opened still operates and a replica of one of her houses sits above the canyon. On walking tours of the neighborhood, she was remembered through a huge pepper tree along Sunset Boulevard planted circa 1908. In 2023, it was torn out after becoming diseased.

For Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) board member Janet O’Dea, she cannot help wondering if the tree might still be alive if the city took a more active role in its care. “If they had maintained [the pepper tree] according to the heritage preservation standards, … if it had been a disease, they might have caught it in time,” she said.

O’Dea believed the tree, along with a series of palm trees in Mission Hills, had received heritage preservation status during a meeting of the The City of San Diego Community Forest Advisory Board (CFAB) in 2009. She went to the board after the Mission Hills Historic District was established, pushing for trees in the historic district to receive protected status so they would receive quality maintenance and oversight. She recalls them voting in favor of the heritage preservation status. She left it at that, assuming the health of the trees was now up to city arborists.

In 2023 when the pepper tree came down, she made inquiries with her city council member. Record requests turned up nothing— the trees had never been added to the city database of heritage trees. Meeting minutes were not found and what happened remains a mystery. O’Dea theorizes the paperwork was never filed and records were lost in the bureaucratic shuffle.

The pepper tree cannot be recovered. However, O’Dea is still working to preserve the row of tall fan palms along Sunset Boulevard that Sessions also planted. The 33 palms are spread across three blocks, ranging from 50- to 110-feet tall.

After the pepper tree debacle, she was encouraged to re-nominate the trees to be conserved with the CFAB.

At their February meeting, city staff recommended against giving the palms heritage status. The board spent another month on the issue and at the March 12 meeting voted 6-3 in favor of protecting the trees. “They contribute a lot of character,” said board member Chris Tiffany. “To be Californian is to love palm trees,” said another.

Before the vote, city forester Brian Widener stated, “There’s no plan to remove these.” His focus remains on shade trees which filter pollution, mitigate heat waves, manage storm water, and capture carbon. While the city no longer plants palms under the Climate Action Plan which calls for native species that improve the environment, they do not at this time take out palms.

O’Dea interjected that administrations change. Under city council policy 900-19, the trees would be protected if another forest manager decided to replace old palms with new shade trees. They would also be included on environmental reviews (CEQA), a hurdle for development. Heritage preservation is based on historic significance of trees over 50 years old though, not whether those trees fight climate change.

Widener noted palm pruning accounts for one-third of his department’s total budget. The palms in question are already on a two-year trimming cycle. The contract charges around $80 per palm tree.

Heritage status would mean one of the department’s seven licensed arborists would supervise the alt-annual trimming along the three blocks. The palms are tall enough that some of the worst aspects of palms are avoided. Board members hoped they naturally shed in the high wind so there is less litter below. They are also fan palms, not queen palms, so do not drop fruit. Its leaves are high enough not to be a significant fire hazard, according to Widener.

Other problems are made worse.

Above 90 feet, pruning becomes dangerous for workers. If it must be done, costs rise significantly. A permit to remove the palms could still be issued if the city determined they posed a clear, imminent and significant public safety hazard.

The city will announce whether it listened to the community board recommendation or stuck with their original decision to deny the nomination at their next meeting on Wednesday, April 9 at 10 a.m. at the Valencia Park – Malcolm X Library.

CAPTION: What will be the fate of several dozen palm trees along Sunset Boulevard that Kate O. Sessions planted? (Photo credit: sohosandiego.org/)