Seattle A Safe Arbor For Trees? -- Plans For Protecting City's Treescape Would Weigh Density, Heritage Specimens In Land-Use Decisions

It's time trees in Seattle had a voice in land-use decisions, say city officials who are proposing new criteria for assigning value to trees.

The changes wouldn't necessarily save trees from the saw, but would give them new clout, raising a red flag that says, in effect, "Hey, consider me. I'm an important tree."

In the Evergreen State's most famous city, trees have not been given enough importance in development regulations, some say.

"The language was vague in terms of trees. It didn't give much guidance to determine which tree was a tree that should be protected," said Cliff Marks, a planner with the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU). His department has devised new tree-protection initiatives, and Councilwoman Jan Drago is proposing an ordinance.

"What we're trying to do now is that in those cases where trees are important, we're trying to raise the level of consideration for trees in (project) design reviews," Marks said.

The DCLU initiatives, up for public comment next year, offer guidelines for when a tree should be protected, although the criteria, some tree folks bark, are still too vague.

Trees nominated as "heritage trees" - the label comes from the nonprofit local group PlantAmnesty - will be deemed significant. Eight trees in the city are currently so labeled. The list includes, for example, a 93-year-old Japanese umbrella pine in the parking lot of the Curry Temple Methodist Episcopal Church in the Central Area.

Also deemed significant would be trees listed in two books, "Champion Trees of Washington State" and the out-of-print "Trees of Seattle." Rare or exceptional trees, as defined by the International Society of Arboriculture, would also be included.

Drago's plan adds a tree formula

Drago's proposal, which goes before a City Council committee Nov. 19, requires a specific tree density for lots on which new single-family homes are built. Each lot bigger than 3,000 square feet must have at least 2 inches of tree diameter per 1,000 square feet; smaller lots would require at least 3 inches of tree diameter. If a lot is treeless, trees would have to be planted.

All this tree attention germinated in frustration. Over the years people have asked the city to help save trees from development, but there was nothing adequate on the books.

Two years ago, the council established tree-preservation goals. An Urban Forest Work Group was convened that included tree advocates and developers alike. Remarkably, there was little rancor in the discussions.

Trees, you see, can incite as much passion as off-leash dog areas and car tabs. A tree may fall unnoticed in the forest, but beware if it's about to be bulldozed in town.

"You're born a tree lover, or you grow into being one," said native Seattleite Cass Turnbull, founder and executive director of PlantAmnesty, which advocates good pruning and planting practices.

"The disappearance of the city's green belts and the emergence of the `megahome' have been very disconcerting," she said. "It's been making the city ugly. Now trees are being considered part of the infrastructure, like, say, a public utility. The utility of trees goes beyond beauty."

City has fewer and fewer trees

The city has lost a good portion of its trees, according to American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation group that recorded Seattle's tree canopy with satellite images. In 1972, there were 5,400 acres of quality vegetation; by 1996, that figure fell to 2,800 acres, or 5 percent of the city's land.

Loss of tree cover, a Seattle Audubon official pointed out, is a reason there are more crows and pigeons, two birds not always widely appreciated.

They thrive, said conservation director Helen Ross, near or in urban environments. Canada geese likewise prefer grass to forested areas. On the other hand, the pileated woodpecker, once found throughout the city, now resides mainly in a few parks.

So with these proposed measures, tree advocates say, the city is finally paying due courtesy to trees.

"Our builders know that if they need to sell houses, it behooves you to plant trees. People like that," said Scott Hildebrand, King County director for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

Ordinances like these are good, Hildebrand said, but if builders are forced to retain a significant amount of trees, it could make it difficult for them to comply with the state Growth Management Act.

It's only a start, says Drago

City officials say these measures won't stop development. That's not what the city wants, Marks said. The more likely outcome is that larger projects requiring a design review may have to be modified, in some cases, because of a tree.

And yet even with these measures, some folks would not be satisfied.

Define "visual prominence" or "environmental value" and the issue gets muddy, said Arthur Lee Jacobson, a local tree expert who authored "Trees of Seattle." The language of the proposed changes, he said, is too vague.

"A big, old, rotting cottonwood with limbs that could come crashing down, that could be detrimental to people," he said. "But it could be wonderful as food for insects."

Even Drago acknowledges this is only a first step. Her ordinance, which targets the majority of undeveloped land in the city, was modeled after one in Portland.

If a homeowner wants to remodel, should the city make sure the construction is good for a tree? That and other questions should be explored, said Drago. She plans to ask the council to keep studying the issue.

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Plans to protect Seattle's trees.

Proposed rules to be used in making land-use decisions:

Trees nominated as `heritage trees' would be deemed significant.

Certain rare or exceptional trees would be deemed significant.

Proposed ordinance for new single-family homes:

Each lot bigger than 3,000 square feet must have at least 2 inches of tree diameter per 1,000 square feet.

Smaller lots would require at least 3 inches of tree diameter.

If a lot is treeless, trees would have to be planted.