Tag Archives: Ingraham High School

Save the Trees – Seattle in Court Seeking Preliminary Injunction

Posted on August 25th, 2008 | Comments Off

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

A hearing is scheduled for 2:00 PM Monday, August 25, 2008 before Judge Erlick of the King County Superior Court, 516 Third Ave, Seattle in Rm W 10-60 on the Save the Trees Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and Motion to Reduce Bond.

Save the Trees is back in court today on their motion for a Preliminary Injunction to prevent the Seattle School District from cutting down 68 Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar and Pacific madrone trees on the west side of Ingraham High School before a hearing can be held in King County Superior Court to resolve the environmental impacts of the project. The temporary restraining order expires today, which means the Seattle School District could again try to cut the trees down tomorrow unless the Preliminary Injunction is granted.

As Save the Trees Attorney Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann notes in the petition to the Superior Court,

“The District’s Decision to withdraw its MUP and other permit applications
has dramatically altered the factual picture since the Hearing Examiner made her
decision. As the District has gone to great pains to demonstrate, the District
has not applied for permits…It can cut the trees without any city permits or
even finalizing construction plans. It is not bound to submit the proposal as
described to the Hearing Examiner to the City. There is thus no guarantee that
any mitigation will actually be constructed once the trees are gone, let alone
enough to compensate for the massive increase in untreated stormwater to Haller
Lake, increase in greenhouse emissions, removal of habitat, and other impacts
that will result from the District’s clearcut. Unlike most land use cases, where
the court reviews both the permits and the associated SEPA review, the District
in this matter is attempting to manipulate the City of Seattle’s review process
by cutting trees before finalizing permit plans. The necessary consequence to
the District of this course of action is that they cannot rely on hypothetical
mitigation measures to justify the determination of non-significance: unlike the
facts presented to the Hearing Examiner, the only action on the table at this
time is clear-cutting a rare collection of trees and other native species”

The Ingraham Tree Grove is comprised of a plant habitat that has been identified by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a rare plant community in King County. The area has also functioned as a school and community park and has been used by Ingraham High School biology and ecology classes for education purposes. While the Seattle City Council and Mayor Nickels are urging the preservation of existing trees and adding canopy to the city, the Seattle School District is going in the opposite direction.

The issue at Ingraham High School is not one of education versus trees. We can have both trees and education. The Seattle School District can build the proposed addition on the open lawn area on the North side of the School without cutting down any large trees. This is a location they have already identified and selected as a future building site in the Ingraham Master Plan. Save the Trees supports the renovation of Ingraham High School and building the new addition on the North side of the school.

To date the environmental issues have only been evaluated by the Seattle School District which obviously has a conflict of interest. The appeal before a hearing examiner was before a hearing examiner hired by the Seattle School District. The issues have yet to reach the King County Superior Court.

The Seattle School District is playing the school yard bully and trying to prevent the normal process by which citizen’s have a right to seek redress from actions or decisions of their government which they think are wrong.

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School District, SEPA

Ingraham Tree Grove Given Temporary Stay of Execution

Posted on August 22nd, 2008 | Comments Off

Save the Trees!

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

Save the Trees – Seattle, representing the neighbors and community around Ingraham High School, was granted a temporary restraining order on August 13, 2008 to halt the cutting of 68 trees in the West Grove. This action became necessary when the Seattle School District withdrew their construction permits, trying to avoid further environmental review of their project by the City of Seattle. They believed they could then just cut down the trees and then reapply for a new permit.

The Seattle School District wanted to prevent further judicial review by those who believe the trees don’t have to be cut. Save the Trees position is that the District can build the project on the open lawn area on the North side of the school without cutting down any large trees. We can have both the educational benefits of a renovated school and the environmental benefits of a healthy urban forest and park. It is not an either or situation but a choice to have both.

Save the Trees! needs to go back to court on August 25, 2008 to get a preliminary injunction to stop the tree cutting while the environmental appeal of the Seattle School District’s proposal is being heard in the King County Superior Court. The August 25, 2008 hearing will again be before Judge Erlickin the King County Superior Court and will start at 2 PM.

Save the Trees! needs your help to continue their battle. Neighbors and other supporters of Save the Trees in Seattle have already helped raise a $7500 bond or the trees would have been cut down. Now Save the Trees needs to raise another $25,000 to continue the legal battle.

If you want to see both trees and education coexist in our neighborhood and city, please copy the coupon below and send a generous check to Save the Trees!. Please include your e-mail so you we can keep you updated. Thanks for helping!

Send your check today to:

Save the Trees!
c/o Steve Zemke,
2131 N 132nd St,
Seattle, WA 98133

P.S. Please forward this post to your friends. The trees at Ingraham represent in a nutshell the crisis facing Seattle’s urban forests. If we can’t save the trees at Ingraham, what tree in Seattle is safe from the chainsaw? Seattle’s urban tree canopy has gone from 40% in 1972 to only 18% today. It’s time to preserve the remaining trees in our city, not keep cutting them down!

————————————————————————————————-

Yes we can have both education and trees at Ingraham High School! Here is my check to help pay for the legal battle to save the trees in the West Grove from the chainsaws and move the proposed addition to the North Lawn area.

I can help with [] $1000 [] $500 [] $250 [] $100 [] $50 [] $25 [] other $_______

Name __________________________________________ Phone (h) _______

Address ________________________________________ (w) __________

City _______________________State ______Zip _______ (cell) __________

e-mail (print clearly)___________________________________________

Send checks to Save the Trees!, c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133
206-366-0811
Copy this coupon and send with your check. Thanks
————————————————————————————————-
Recent news articles and blogs writing about saving the Ingraham trees:

Judge prohibits School District from cutting Ingraham High trees

Judge halts tree cutting near Ingraham High School

http://www.majorityrules.org/

http://saveingrahamstrees.info/

http://smarterneighbors.com/

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Environmental Impact, Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District, SEPA

Save the Trees Wins Temporary Restraining Order but, Needs $7500 to post a bond.

Posted on August 14th, 2008 | Comments Off

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

Special Appeal for fundraising Help from Save the Trees

Save the Trees won a two week TRO to stop the logging by the Seattle School District at Ingraham High School this Friday.This allows the case to be heard. Unfortunately the judge also put a financial burden on Save the Trees.

Things are moving forward having scored this underdog victory.

Save the trees won the Temporary Restraining Order when Judge Erlick agreed that the case would be mute if the trees are cut down. He also turned down the School District’s request for a $400,000 bond with the school district arguing that was the inflation cost of not being able to build the project. The Judge noted that with no MUP application pending and no timeline they had no project.

The Judge did somewhat buy the Seattle School District’s bogus contract that the School District signed with Weiss Trees to be used against Save the Trees. The Seattle School District signed a contract that paid them $33,000 for the trees with a penalty of $10,000 to $17,000 if the trees aren’t cut on Friday. It’s a contract Save the Tree’s Attorney Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann argued that no businessman would sign such onerous terms, noting that the issue of a pending lawsuit would also have prevented the trees being cut down.

Keith Scully argued well and got an initial $20,000 bond reduced to $7500. If Save the Trees does not post the bond by tomorrow they can’t stop the trees being cut down. If they lose the case they also lose the bond money. Some deal right.

As of the end of Wednesday night Save the Trees has received pledges of over 2/3 of the needed bond money – some $5500 of the $7500 needed.

Anyone reading this can help with a contribution to Save the Trees to come up with the bond money by e-mailing Steve Zemke at stevezemke@msn.com and pledge what you can send to help cover the rest of the bond. You can even deliver your pledge to Steve’s house Thursday. His address is 2131 N 132nd St one block off of Meridian N.

You can also call Steve at 206-366-0811 to make or leave a pledge. If he gets the money pledged and put in the mail, Save the Trees can cover the bond deadline.

But it is up to you. If you want Save the Trees to go forward, now is the time for you to step forward. If you don’t like the extortion tactics the Seattle School District is doing, respond with a pledge. They are trying to intimidate Save the Trees and neighbors to go away. This is all planned out on their part to crush Save the Trees and their right to judicial review. But we can fight back.

So dig deep and let Steve know what you can help with. Thanks

Send checks to:
Save the Trees
c/o Steve Zemke
2131 N 132nd St
Seattle, Wa98133

Judge blocks tree-cutting at Ingraham
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008111148_webtrees13m.html

Judge Prohibits School District from cutting Ingraham High Trees
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/374851_trees14.html

Comments Off on Save the Trees Wins Temporary Restraining Order but, Needs $7500 to post a bond.

Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Searttle, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District, Temporary Restraining Order

Seattle School District Rev’s Up Chainsaws, Save the Trees – Seattle Files for TRO

Posted on August 13th, 2008 | Comments Off

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

A hearing has just been scheduled for 3:00 PM today Wed, August 12, before Judge Erlick of the Superior Court in Rm W 10-60 on the Save the Trees Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the trees at Ingraham High School from being cut down this Friday.

The Seattle School District is further trying to stifle legitimate review of their decisions by asking that a bond of $10,000 be posted because they signed a contact with Weiss Tree Company that money be paid if the trees aren’t cut on Friday. Weiss would pay the Seattle School District $33,000 for the trees.

This contract as viewed by citizens would appear to have been written and signed by the School District to be an impediment to Save the Trees or any other group filing any legitimate appeal of their actions. In addition the School District is asking for a bond of $400,000 for inflation costs for the delay of a project that they just withdrew the building permits on from the city review process.

The TRO is being requested to halt the Seattle School District from cutting down 68 Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar and Pacific madrone trees on the west side of Ingraham High School before a hearing can be held in Superior Court to resolve the environmental impacts of the project.

Among other things the tree grove is comprised of a plant habitat that is identified by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a rare plant community in King County. The area has also functioned as a school and community park and has been used by Ingraham High School biology and ecology classes for education purposes.

By having withdrawn their construction permits and trying to just cut the grove of trees down, the Seattle School District is trying to avoid any consideration of Washington State and Seattle environmental and land use laws. They are saying the issues will be settled by the chain saw not the rule of law. To date the environmental issues have only been evaluated by the Seattle School District which obviously has a conflict of interest. The appeal before a hearing examiner was before a hearing examiner hired by the Seattle School District. The issues have yet to reach the Superior Court. The Seattle School District is playing the school yard bully and trying to prevent the normal process by which citizen’s have a right to seek redress from actions or decisions of their government which they think are wrong.

Press Advisory
Save the Trees
For More Information Contact:
Steve Zemke
206-999-6095 (cell)
206-366-0811 (home)

Breaking News – Press Advisory

The Seattle School District has just informed Keith Scully, the attorney for Save the Trees, that they will not halt their decision to cut down the trees at Ingraham High School while the environmental issues are being reviewed by the King County Superior Court. A hearing has been set for Sept 2, 2008 but the Seattle School District intends to ignore it and proceed with cutting down the trees this Friday, August 15, 2008.

Keith Scully will be filing a request for a temporary restraining order before the King County Superior Court at 516 Third Ave in Seattle before the Ex Parte division at 11:30 this morning

You can check at the front desk for the location of the hearing.

The Seattle School Board obviously decided last night in their special executive session to ignore the unresolved legal issues and also the position of Mayor Nickels, the Seattle City Council, many Seattle citizens and neighbors opposing cutting down the trees at Ingraham. The School District is opposing letting this issue be resolved on its merits through a court of law and has decided instead to use the chain saw to just get its way!

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District

Lawsuit Filed by Save the Trees against Seattle School District

Posted on August 13th, 2008 | Comments Off

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

For Immediate release:
August 12, 2008
Save the Trees Press Release
For More Information Contact:
Steve Zemke
stevezemke@msn.com
206-366-0811

Save the Trees has filed a lawsuit with the King County Superior Court against the Seattle Public School’s proposal to cut down 68 old evergreen trees at Ingraham High School without adequate environmental review.

The King County Court has assigned the case a hearing date of Sept 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 PM. The Case number is 08-2-26887-0SEA. The Case Caption is Save the Trees, et.al. v. Seattle School District No.1, State of Washington.

The lawsuit alleges that the Seattle School District has violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), RCW 43.21C and SEPA Rules, WAC 197-11, by deciding to proceed with the Ingraham High School Renovation, Demolition and New Construction Project without adequate environmental review.

Plaintiffs have exhausted all remedies within the Seattle School District including appealing the project through a Seattle Public Schools hearing examiner. In order to avoid further city review of the proposed project, the Seattle School District said last Wednesday that “the District has withdrawn their pending application for a Master Use Permit for the projects, as well as the building permit application and grading permit application”

By this evading of further review by the city as to land use and environmental laws the school district hoped to avoid review of whether building a new addition at Ingraham High School in a large grove of 75 year old, 100 feet tall would violate city environmental laws.

Seattle environmental law under SMC25.05.67N2a states “It is the cities policy to minimize or prevent the loss of wildlife habitat and other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value.”

Overlooked by the Seattle School District and discovered by the plaintiffs during their review of the project was that the grove of 130 Douglas fir, Madrone and western red cedar trees on the west side of Ingraham High School was a unique environmental habitat. Unknown by the Seattle School District was the fact that the Washington State Department of Natural Resources under their Natural Heritage Program had classified the plant habitat actually present at Ingraham as a rare plant community in King County.

The Seattle School District also had not acknowledged the fact that the tree grove was used as a school and neighborhood park. These and other facts will be part of the appeal by Save the Trees.

Meanwhile the question remains as to whether the Seattle School District will agree to put their proposed tree cutting and removal scheduled on August 15th and 16th on hold.

The School District has incurred tremendous public outrage from both Seattle public officials and citizens for this blatant attempt to get around existing land use and environmental laws.

The Seattle School Board has called a special executive committee meeting for this evening (Tuesday August 12, 2008) from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM to discuss their response to the law suit.

It is hoped by Save the Trees that the Seattle School District will withdraw their threat of cutting down the trees this Friday and Saturday and allow the environmental review process to proceed as normal and delay any action to cut the trees until the case is properly reviewed by the Courts.

Ron English, an attorney for the Seattle School District has written an e-mail to Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann who is representing the plaintiffs, noting that he did not have the authority to stop the tree cutting and that the decision was up to the School Board. That is one of the issues they are discussing tonight.

If the Seattle School District decides not to cancel the tree cutting, Ron English said that the plaintiffs would have time to go to King County Superior Court to request a restraining order as the District had no intent of cutting the trees down before Friday.

Of course with the construction permits withdrawn, the Seattle School Board also has the option of dropping the proposal to build the addition in the grove of trees and move it to another site, like the open lawn area on the North side of the school.

This would remove any further delay from the project, as litigation regarding the trees is expected to take 6 months or more and the School District has no certainty they would prevail with a full review of the project and alternatives if the Court rules an EIS is needed.

END///END///////////

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District

Urgent Update -Help Needed to Save the Trees at Ingraham High School –

Posted on August 11th, 2008 | Comments Off

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

It’s been a hectic couple of day here in Seattle battling to save the old trees at Ingraham High School! A somewhat ordinary environmental review process has turned into a battle to stop the chain saws as the Seattle School District has resorted to dirty developer tactics and an all out attempt to bully their way over the public by just cutting down the trees. On Thursday they withdrew their building permit applications with the City of Seattle, claiming that without the pending land use applications they could just cut down the trees. Neighbors and Seattle be damned they said! The School District said they plan to cut down the trees on August 15th and 16th .

Once the trees are cut down the Seattle School District plans to resubmit its plans to again add the building addition where the trees once were. Oh and don’t despair. They said you’ll be able to comment on their proposal again at that time. But this time there won’t be any trees in the way for angry neighbors and tree lovers and park lovers to complain about losing.

We urgently need the help of the public to stop them. This blatant evasion of the normal planning process is outrageous and a callous attempt to avoid environmental protection and land use laws. One might expect such arrogant bullying from a private developer but the Seattle Public Schools are owned by the taxpayers. Its our money and our schools. Please help now to save the trees at Ingraham.

Please note: It’s not a question of trees versus school renovation. It never has been. Save the Trees supports replacing the decaying portables with new classrooms. We support putting the new addition on the North side of the school on an open lawn area where no large trees have to be cut down. The Seattle School District, without seeking public input from neighbors and the community, chose to build the addition in a grove of 75 year old 100 foot tall Douglas fir, Pacific madrone and western red cedar trees. Some 68 trees would be unnecessarily cut down. They have long been are a neighborhood park. They also constitute a rare plant community in King County under the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program.

You can read our press release here on MajorityRulesBlog: http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2008/08/seattle-school-district-seeks-to-avoid.html

There has been major coverage in both the print and broadcast media.

In the Seattle Times by Susan Gilmore http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008101880_ingraham09m.html

And a post by Lisa Stiffler. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/environment/archives/145622.asp

A link to the KOMO site http://www.komonews.com/news/26442089.html

A link to the King 5 news story is here: http://www.king5.com/education/stories/NW_080808WAB_seattle_school_tree_controversy_TP.2a35ef0b.html#

Great Blog Post – http://smarterneighbors.com/2008/08/09/seattle-school-districts-bad-faith-decision-to-fell-trees-at-ingraham-high-angering-neighbors-and-mayor-nickels/

Also you can find a series of blog posts on the Ingraham battle as it has evolved over the last several months at www.MajorityRules.org/blog

We need people to email or call Seattle City Council members, the Mayor’s office and Seattle School Board and the Seattle School’s Superintendent expressing outrage at the Seattle School District’s decision to evade environmental scrutiny by a developer’s loophole.

Urge the School District and Superintendent to continue the environmental review process in the Courts or just move the proposed addition to the North side of Ingraham High School where they could build without cutting down any large trees. Urge specifically they not cut down the trees.

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/index.dxml

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/sup/index.dxml

Urge the Seattle City Council and Mayor to pass now a strong tree preservation ordinance to close this and other loopholes and give protection to saving and expanding tree cover in the city! Urge action now, not next year. If you are outraged by this slimy trick to evade environmental review tell the city council and mayor to end these developer loopholes.

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/contact.html

http://www.seattle.gov/council/councilcontact.html

Send a contribution made out to Save the Trees! to help pay legal expenses. Initial costs are several thousand dollars. More costs are anticipated if the School District digs in further. Send as generous a check as you can to “Save the Trees!” c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133 206-366-0811

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle City Council, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District, urban forest

Seattle School District Seeks to Avoid State and City SEPA and Land Use Laws.

Posted on August 9th, 2008 | 1 comment

Save the Trees Press Release:
August 9, 2008

Seattle School District Uses Developer Loophole to Avoid Environmental Laws.

The Seattle School District is attempting to avoid Washington State and Seattle Environmental Protection laws and Land Use Regulations using an unscrupulous developer loophole. In the process they are about to destroy an urban forest tree grove at Ingraham High School in North Seattle that has unique environmental value.

The Seattle School District yesterday notified the city of Seattle and neighbors that they “have withdrawn its pending application for a Master Use Permit (MUP) for the project, as well as the building permit application and grading permit application. So long as these applications are not pending, no city permits are required for removal of these trees….”

The forested area is classified as a rare plant community in King County by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources under its Natural Heritage Program because of its unique combination of Douglas fir, western madrone trees and salal understory.

The Seattle School District’s action is the same as loggers killing spotted owls or developers filling in wetlands prior to applying for permits, so they can avoid environmental laws. In this instance the Seattle School District’s bringing out the chainsaws is adopting the worst environmental practices to evade environmental protection laws to end a legal appeal process.

They seem to have decided that allowing citizens the right to appeal their decisions is something they don’t have time for or that they need to do. This is not a single action here. Last week they did a similar destructive bullying tactic at Denny Sealth School in West Seattle. They bulldozed down the trees there that were part of a DNS appeal hearing while the hearing was still going on – ending any effective appeal. They apologized for their “mistake” but the trees were gone.

Here at Ingraham they are also playing the same school yard bully. We are in the middle of an appeal process to save the Ingraham tree grove and the school district is again picking up the chain saw and saying the game is over. At stake are over 68 evergreen trees that are 75 years old and over 100 feet tall.

We have warned the school district that if the trees are cut down because they want to end the public legal appeal process that they are facing a recall effort of the entire school board for their dereliction of their responsibility to allow the legal public appeal process to continue.

They have made a mistake by locating the proposed school addition in a unique and rare environmental habitat – a rare plant community. They made their decision without involving the public in the planning process.

Their argument that it will cost them to move the building addition to another location is the same argument polluters make when they asked to clear up toxic waste or air pollution or a developer is told they can’t build on a wetland. Yes it may cost them more but they need to do the right thing and follow the law.

The Seattle Public School District is in charge of educating our city’s children. They need to teach and lead by example. You can not teach our children we are a nation of laws and then seek to evade the law applying to you.

We urge the School District to rescind their order to cut the trees down on Aug 15 and 16 and continue with the legal process. If not we will be pursing our legal options to stop them.

Under city environmental law SMC 25.05.67N2a it states “It is the cities policy to minimize or prevent the loss of wildlife habitat and other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value.

Under SEPA regulation SMC 25.05.675N.2c if a city “finds that a proposed project would reduce or damage

1. Rare uncommon or exceptional plant or wildlife habitat

2. Wildlife trail ways or

3. Habitat diversity of species (plants or animals) of substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological or economic value

The decision maker may condition or deny the project to mitigate its adverse impacts.”

The Seattle School District is seeking to avoid the project being evaluated under these regulations and is instead seeking to destroy the environmental habitat so that it can do what it wants without environmental oversight or mittigation.

end press release///////

This action could be reversed by the Seattle School Board but no one wants to break ranks and admit they made a mistake. Arrogance, not reason rules at this point.

Contact the Seattle School Board and urge them to abandom their wild west cowboy gunslinger attitude and move the proposed addition to the north side of the school where an open lawn area would allow a new building addition to be placed without cutting down any old trees.

This issue is not education versus trees as the Seattle School Board suggests. We can have both. The Ingraham campus is the largest Seattle School District campus at 28 acres. The west grove of trees is only 1.2 acres in size and is a unique asset to the campus and the neighborhood.

1 Comment

Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Natural Heritage Program, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School Board, Seattle School District, SEPA

Seattle City Council Passes Tree Grove Protection Resolution

Posted on July 1st, 2008 | Comments Off

The full Seattle City Council on Monday , June 30, 2008 unanimously passed Resolution 31065 to help protect the remaining tree groves in the city of Seattle from being cut down. The resolution is an attempt to clarify the city’s current tree protection policies which are very weak and have only emphasized protection of exceptional individual trees.

The city has continued to lose tree cover . Between 1973 and now the city’s tree canopy has gone from 40% to 18%. The Council is trying to reverse this situation by protecting existing trees and planting new trees. Two recent proposed projects have pointed out the weakness and flaw in the past city tree policies.

A Seattle School District renovation proposal at Ingraham High School in North Seattle to add new classrooms to replace portables threatens some 62 Douglas fir, western red cedar and madrone trees that are over 75 years old. The School District without public input decided to build the new addition in the grove of trees rather than around the corner on the North side of the school where an open lawn exists.

In the Maple Leaf community in North Seattle neighbors are fighting cutting down most of a grove of old trees at the former site of the Waldo Hospital. The old hospital is being razed and a block of houses is being put on the site.

Below is the Resolution passed by the Seattle City Council.

A RESOLUTION requesting the Director of the Department of Planning and Development to submit legislation to extend the City’s tree protection efforts to include groves or groups of trees or other vegetation that are determined to have substantial ecological, educational, or economic value and to update existing Director’s Rules in support of these efforts.

WHEREAS, Section 25.05.675(N) of the Seattle Municipal Code allows for preservation of trees as mitigation when a project would reduce or damage rare, uncommon, unique or exceptional plant or wildlife habitat, wildlife travelways, or habitat diversity for species of substantial aesthetic, education, ecological or economic value; and

WHEREAS, Director’s Rule 06-2001 focuses on individual trees and how the SEPA policy interacts with SMC chapter 25.11, the Tree Protection Ordinance, which also focuses on individual trees; and

WHEREAS, the language of Section 25.05.675(N) is not restricted to preserving single trees nor does it suggest restricting mitigation to a single tree; and

WHEREAS, the policy intent of the Council, as stated in SMC 25.05.675(N)(1)(a), is to have decision makers mitigate impacts resulting from the loss of plant or wildlife habitat, wildlife travelways, or habitat diversity for species of substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological, or economic value; and

WHEREAS, development impacts in the City have significantly contributed to a reduction of our urban tree canopy from 40% in 1972 to 18% today, as documented in the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) completed by the Office of Sustainability and Environment in 2007; and

WHEREAS, the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) identifies an urban tree canopy goal of 30% for the City of Seattle to be achieved by 2037 and in Seattle’s most recent Comprehensive Plan amendments (Ordinance 122610), the Council adopted a goal of a 1% per year increase in urban tree canopy coverage up to 40% , and this goal is consistent with the urban tree canopy goal recommended by American Forests, the nation’s oldest non-profit citizen’s conservation organization; and

WHEREAS, the Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan policy in Ordinance 122610 stating the City’s objective to strive to achieve no net-loss of tree canopy starting in 2008; and WHEREAS, mitigating the cumulative impact of the loss of Seattle’s urban tree cover by planting new trees will take decades; and

WHEREAS, climate change, effects of runoff to our streams, lakes, rivers, and Puget Sound, and air quality are issues of immediate importance; and WHEREAS, an environmentally and fiscally superior way to reach Seattle’s urban tree cover goal of 40% is to make every reasonable effort to prevent the loss of trees;

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THAT: Section 1. The City Council requests that the Director of the Department of Planning and Development promulgate or amend department rules to identify, consider, recognize and protect groves or groups of trees that provide rare, uncommon, unique or exceptional plant or wildlife habitat, or wildlife travelways, or habitat diversity for plant species of substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological or economic value, for the purpose of evaluating and mitigating development proposals; and Section 2. The Council requests that the Director of Planning and Development submit legislation to extend the City’s tree protection to include groves or groups of trees that are ecologically interdependent, including groups that may contain exceptional trees as defined in SMC chapter 25.11.

Adopted by the City Council the 30th day of June, 2008, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this 30th day of June, 2008.
Richard Conlin
President of the City Council

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle School District, Seattle Tree Grove Resolution, Urban Forestry

Seattle School District Works Overtime to Silence Critics

Posted on June 24th, 2008 | 1 comment

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

Opponents to the Seattle School District’s clearcutting of half a grove of old evergreen trees at Ingraham High School got slapped with two motions over the weekend to silence their criticism.

Both seem petty and ill advised from a public relations sense yet the Seattle School District seems impervious to listening to the public.

One motion was to try to silence a quiet mannered public citizen who seems to have devoted most of his breathing time in recent years to trying to make Seattle Schools better. He is present at most of the school district’s meetings regarding all manner of things and presents thoughtful researched input into the public process that seems to have few Seattle citizens participating.

His name is Chris Jackins and he represents a broad base of Seattle citizens concerned about school issues under his Seattle Committee to Save Schools. Our family is a member of his group as are other neighbors. Yet the Seattle School District has filed a motion to dismiss him and his committee from the appeal tomorrow on the School District’s Determination of Nonsignificance for the Ingraham High School renovation project.

The motion was filed by G. Richard Hill a special attorney paid for by our tax dollars to try to push through the Seattle School District’s opinion that cutting down up to 90 old Douglas fir, western red cedar and madrone trees that have existed on the Ingraham High School campus even before the school was build in 1959 is not significant. The trees are over 75 years old and 100 feet or more tall.

According to Mr Hill, Chris Jackins is not an aggrieved person and as such can not file an appeal. By definition all of Seattle residents are aggrieved persons because they are taxpayers who are paying to clearcut trees at Ingraham if the Seattle School District continues with its ill advised anti- environmental stance that cutting down 90 old evergreen trees in a park like setting on the west side of Ingraham High School is not significant.

Hill says that ” a person is aggrieved only when the following conditions are present (a) the interest that the person is seeking to protect is within the zone of interests that are protected or regulated by SEPA; and(b) the person has alleged “injury in fact” ie, that he or she will be specifically and perceptibly harmed” by the proposed action.”

Chris Jackins and his committee are aggrieved by the proposed actions of the School Board as are most other Seattle residents and should be commended for taking the time to be involved as a citizen activist, not told to put a muzzle on.

Ingraham High School is a International Baccalaureate school that is trying to attract students from all over the city. As such families across the city have an interest in what happens at Ingraham. And if Ingraham diminishes the urban forest habitat by its actions it affects all Seattle residents. Ingraham is not an island unto itself.

The Seattle School District does not need to cut down any large trees to build the addition at Ingraham High School. The North side of Ingraham High School has an open grassy lawn that the school district has actually identified as a future building site in their master plan for Ingraham High School. Considering the magnitude of the impact on the current site that clear cuts 2/3 of a magnificent grove of trees, most reasonable persons would scratch their heads and ask, “Why don’t you build the proposed addition there and save the trees?”

The problem is that the Seattle School District and the Ingraham School Design Team made their decision as to where to build in private without public involvement. And that is one of the reasons they have filed their second motion – which is to quash any discussion of their secret process and lack of consideration of alternatives to the present site. They gave lip service to public involvement but unless you were personally selected by Ingraham High School’s Principal Martin Floe to come to the unpublicized Ingraham School Design Team meetings you had no way of participating.

The second motion is to dismiss appellants claims regarding alternatives. They argue that since they have “mitigated ” their determination of nonsignificance that we can not discuss the fact that other potential building sites like the North side of the school do not require any old trees to be cut down. Yet they make a number of references in the Environmental checklist as to why specific alternative sites won’t work as well discuss them in the latest letter of determination of nonsignificance. But the Seattle School District is now trying to say that while it was OK for them to discuss them, we can not do the same.

The Seattle School District is trying to say that its proposal is not environmentally significant because it is going to plant more trees than it takes out. The problem with this argument is that they can not replace old large coniferous trees with small deciduous street trees and claim they are making up for the irreversible loss of a park like grove of 75 year old by planting a bunch of 1 or 2 year old deciduous street trees and some small conifers elsewhere on the campus. This is like telling season ticket holders of the Seahawks that the team has been replaced with two teams of junior high school football players and if we wait long enough they will be able to play against the New England Patriots or the NY Giants. Just have patience.

Seattle School students can certainly get a good lesson in how democracy and the law really works by watching the attempts of the District to silence its critics. Repeated requests to get specific information on alternative designs and budgets from the School District and information on the basis on which it decided to make its decision that the trees were not significant have met with minimal response. This lack of timely and specific response to these public information requests for records leads me to the conclusion that the Seattle School District is a closed bureaucracy that does not feel it needs to involve the public in its decision making It would prefer to do it business behind closed doors out of the public limelight and doesn’t feel it needs to be accoutable for its actions.

The hearing on the appeal of the SEPA determination of nonsignificance for the Ingraham High School renovation that will result in clearcutting trees on the site will start tomorrow at 9 AM at Ingraham High School in North Seattle in the school library. The hearing is open to the public and media.

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Chris Jackins, Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle Committee to Save Schools, Seattle School District, SEPA

Seattle City Council to Act on Saving Tree Groves

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 | 2 comments

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

This Tuesday afternoon at 2 PM, the Seattle City Council ‘s Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities will be discussing and considering passing a resolution on clarifying the existing rules on protecting trees in Seattle “to include groves or groups of trees or other vegetation that are determined to have substantial ecological, educational or economic value”

Resolution 31065 is sponsored by Council President Richard Conlin and Sally Clark. You can read their press release here. They expect the Committee to vote on the issue June 24 and the full council to vote on June 30, 2008.

It does not appear that the public will get much chance to comment on the resolution because the Committee is only allowing 10 minutes of public comment for a jam packed meeting that also includes discussion of a 20 cent per bag green fee on disposable shopping bags and another discussion on prohibiting polystyrene containers for food and shifting to compostable and recyclable alternatives.

The best bet for those that want to help protect existing groves of trees from being destroyed in Seattle is to call or e-mail Seattle City Council members urging their support for added strengthening tree protection. Certainly come to the meeting to show your support as well. The Seattle City Council members can be contacted by going to the Seattle City Council website.

The two current battles over threatened destruction of trees includes a grove of 130 old Douglas fir and western red cedar and madrone trees at Ingraham High School in north Seattle and another grove of mostly Douglas fir in the Maple Leaf area in Seattle called the Waldo Woods.

Recent articles on the proposed tree ordinance:

“Seattle council members want groves of trees protected” Seattle Times 3/29/2008

“Call to Protect grove of trees is sent to Nickels” Seattle PI 3/29/2008

“Seattle Treescape: A bigger canopy” Seattle PI editorial 6/11, 2008

“Neighbors Urge Seattle School Board to Redesign Ingraham HS Project”, MajorityRulesBlog 4/15/2008

A growing contradiction at Ingraham high, Seattle PI 3/28/2008

“Maple Leaf appeals decision on letting developer cut down trees” Seattle Times 5/28/2008

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Posted in Environment, Urban Forests

Tagged Ingraham High School, Save the Trees - Seattle, Seattle City Council, Seattle School Board, tree groves, Urban Forestry