Seattle Urban Forest Commission open meetings act violations and continued delays in filling vacant Urban Forestry Commission positions

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Dear OSE Acting Director Lylianna Allala,

Congratulations on your appointment to head up the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

I wanted to bring to your attention several ongoing issues that have been raised by myself and other members of the public at meetings of the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission starting in 2025 and continuing in 2026.  I and other members of the public have raised these issues numerous times in public comments before the Commission, but these issues continue to be unaddressed by Commission staff.

The first issue concerns violations of the Washington State Open Meetings Act and not complying with the stated  responsibilities in the Commission’s bylaws to post meeting materials and recordings, not keeping the commission’s website updated, not posting draft meeting notes and other documents the Commission will vote on in advance of the meeting on the agenda, and not timely posting adopted meeting notes.

The second issue concerns continued lengthy delays in filling vacant Urban Forestry Commission seats, which reduces expertise needed to help evaluate issues before the Commission.

Steve Zemke – former Urban Forestry Commissioner for 6.5 years

Chair of Tree PAC and Friends of Seattle’s Urban Forest

The first issue regards violations of the Washington State Open Meetings Act: 

Inadequate Posting of Urban Forestry Commission meeting agendas, digital recordings and adopted minutes  (for Years 2025 and 2026)

  • No digital recording of meetings posted – Feb 2025, March 2025, July 2025, Nov 2025, Jan 2026, Feb 2026
  • No draft meeting notes  posted – March 2025, Oct 2025, Nov 2025, Jan 2026, Feb 2026
  • No  adopted meeting notes posted – Feb 2025, March 2025, Oct 2025, Nov 2025, Jan 2026
  • No agenda posted – Nov. 2025 (link does not work)

The Jan 13, 2021 adopted Coordinator Protocols for the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission state the following responsibilities:

  • 6. Record Commission meetings and produce meeting summaries for review and adoption by the Commission
  • 8. Manage and update Commission’s website, including posting meeting materials and recordings.
  • 10. Coordinate internal and external Commission communications. 

For comparison, postings in 2021 to 2024, are complete and detailed and meet requirements of the Washington State Open Meetings Act. They also meet the adopted Coordinator protocols. In addition, separate posting of presentations by city staff make it much easier to find and share highlights of meetings, presentations, adopted UFC positions and letters and not having to search through an entire 2 hour recording to find a presentation.

The second issue is continued lengthy delays in filling UFC vacancies:

The second issue is the continuation of delayed appointments to fill Urban Forestry Commission vacancies which reduces key urban forestry areas of expertise on the Commission. Current vacant positions include:

  • Position 4 – hydrologist – vacant since Oct 2025 (mayoral appointment)
  • Position 6 – landscape architect – vacant since August 2025 (mayoral appointment)
  • Position 7 – NGO Representative – vacant since April 2025 city council appointment)
  • Position 8 – development or utility representative – vacant since Jan 2026 (mayoral appointment)
  • Position 9 – economist, financial analyst, realtor or similar professional – vacant since Sept 2025 (Urban Forestry Commission appointment)

The Jan 13, 2021 adopted Coordinator Protocols for the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission states the following responsibility:

  • 13. Run recruitment processes for Commission members in Coordination with City Council and Mayor’s Office staff. 

As in 2025, vacancies are still not being timely filled.

There is no notice on the UFC website regarding a timeline or process to fill these vacancies.  These vacancies are taking months to fill. Delays reduce the actual time the Commissioners serve. Once a seat is either known to be vacant due to a resignation or an end of a term with notice someone does not want to be reappointed to a second term, or a second term is known to be ending, the information on how to apply, including where to send a resume and letter of interest should is available on the UFC website so that vacancies can be filled much quicker.

While there are currently 5 vacant positions, the Seattle Boards and Commissions website currently only lists 3 vacancies on their website. They also need to be timely notified.

Please note. The above comments on posting meeting agendas, recordings, minutes,  posting separate presentations and timely efforts to fill vacant UFC positions are meant to be helpful. The goal should be to increase public accessibility and the functioning of the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission. Resolving the stated issues will help UFC commissioners, the Office of Sustainability and Environment, city staff, the City Council and the Mayor’s office as well as the public and news media in being updated on the commission’s meetings, presentations, recommendations and other activities.  This is especially helpful for anyone who is not able to attend a meeting but wants to review what was presented and discussed. A good updated public record also greatly assists new Commissioners in getting up to speed much quicker on urban forestry issues before the Commission that they are expected to help advise the City Council and Mayor on.

This e-mail was sent to Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, OSE’s acting Director, OSE’s Urban Forestry Coordinator, UFC’s Liasson and the Seattle City Council’s Chair of the Land Use and Environmental Sustainability Committee. on Feb. 19, 2026. It is now March 3, 2026 and no response has been received and no correction have been made on the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission website.

 

Can you help with a donation to TreePAC.org?

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January 2026 – TreePAC is  beginning a new year. 

Last year – 2025 – was a busy year for TreePAC with Seattle both updating the City’s Comprehensive Plan and complying with Washington State HB 1110 to increase housing density in our city to meet future projected growth. TreePAC was heavily involved in this effort to increase support for increased tree protection during development. Our biggest success was helping  to amend Seattle’s Tree Protection Ordinance to remove the developer sponsored ‘basic tree protection area” loophole.

We also spend the first part of the year monitoring legislation in Olympia that affected tree protection and were successful in helping to stop legislation that would have allowed developers to remove all trees on lots being developed by letting them just plant new trees somewhere else. The problem is that replacing an 80 year old Douglas fir tree or a western red cedar takes 80 years.

TreePAC also did candidate questionnaires on mayoral and and city council candidates in Seattle as in past years and this year added city council candidates in Shoreline.

Please help us continue our work by making a donation today to continue our work in 2026.  We are an all volunteer organization and are dependent on financial support from supporters like you. Thank you.

                                           Donate to TreePAC.org

Voting information for Seattle and Shoreline voters Nov 4, 2025 General Election

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Dear TreePAC Supporters,

TreePAC sent  General Election Questionnaires to City Council and Mayoral candidates in Seattle and Shoreline this year. You can see the questionnaires that were returned here. They are also on the TreePAC website at www.TreePAC.org.

click here to see:

         Seattle and Shoreline 2025 General Election candidate questionnaires

The deadline to vote this year is Tuesday Nov 4th at 8:00 PM. Please put your ballot in a drop box before then, not in the mail.  

Seattle Times reported this week that “The Washington Secretary of State’s office encouraged voters to use drop boxes after Oct. 28. To find a drop box near you, check out the Washington Secretary of State office’s drop box locator.”

The reason is that the US Postal Service cannot be counted on to postmark your ballots before the deadline based on postmarks checked during our August Primary.

If you want to hear the 2 Seattle Mayoral candidates discuss climate and trees check out this recording by the Seattle Park Foundation of the recent Climate Forum with Seattle Mayoral and King County Executive Candidates.

You can also check out the Official Voter’s Pamphlet here.

Thanks for voting.

Seattle and Shoreline 2025 Candidates

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Seattle and Shoreline both have mayoral and council candidates on the ballot. The general election is on November 4th. Support candidates who support our trees!

CityPositionCandidateQuestionnaireCampaign Email
SeattleMayorBruce HarrellTreePAC Questionnaireinfo@bruceforseattle.com
SeattleMayorKatie WilsonTreePAC Questionnairekatie@wilsonforseattle.com
SeattleCouncil 9Sara NelsonTreePAC Questionnaireinfo@saraforcitycouncil.com
SeattleCouncil 9Dionne Foster
Not Received
info@dionnefoster.com
SeattleCouncil 2Adonis DuckworthTreePAC Questionnaireinfo@adonisforseattle.com
SeattleCouncil 2Eddie Lin
Not Received
hello@linforseattle.com
SeattleCouncil 8Alexis Rinck
Not Received
alexis@alexisforseattle.com
SeattleCouncil 8Rachael Savage
Not Received
savageforseattle@gmail.com
ShorelineCouncil 3Laura Mork
Not Received
vote4lauramork@gmail.com
ShorelineCouncil 5Eben PobeeTreePAC Questionnaireelectebenpobee@gmail.com
ShorelineCouncil 7Chris Roberts
Not Received
chris@chrisrobertswa.com
ShorelineCouncil 1Valerie SniderTreePAC Questionnaireelectvaleriesnider@gmail.com
ShorelineCouncil 1Jack Malek
Not Received
jmalek1234@gmail.com

Public Hearing on Amendments to Seattle City Council Bills CB 120993 and CB 120985 Sept 12, 2025

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Public Hearing on  Amendments to Seattle City Council CB 120993 and CB 120985 regarding housing and trees and other issues during development

https://seattle.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7423062&GUID=BE94A92B-AE2B-4714-B644-1DEFBE30E86B
Please note
10. Public Hearing Notice for Sept. 12, 2025,
11. Updated Amendment Package for Public Hearing Notice
 CB 120993 – AN ORDINANCE relating to land use and zoning; implementing a major update of Neighborhood Residential zones and modifying development standards in other zones to comply with various state laws
https://seattle.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7423062&GUID=BE94A92B-AE2B-4714-B644-1DEFBE30E86Bc

Amendments needed to Seattle City Council Bill 120993

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The following was sent to Seattle City Council members:

Dear Seattle City Council members,

Neither the proposed Comprehensive Plan update or CB 120993 give adequate oversight or protection for maintaining a thriving healthy urban forest over the long term. The current Tree Protection Ordinance was adopted prior to the current proposed Comprehensive Plan, WA state HB 1110  and new zoning proposed in CB120993. SMC 25.11 – the Tree Protection Ordinance needs to be reviewed and amended to address the increased loss of trees and urban forest ecosystem services under the current changes proposed.

Council Bill 120993 needs amendments to protect and plant more trees where people live if Seattle wants to reach its 30% canopy goal, address urban heat island impacts, reduce air pollution and stormwater runoff and keep our neighborhoods healthy where people live.

Here are amendments we believe need to be made now:

  1. Remove the “basic tree protection area” loophole in SMC 25.11.070 that lets developers solely make the decision to remove Tier 2 trees. SDCI is responsible to help protect Seattle neighborhoods and keep them healthy as well as support the city reaching a 30% tree canopy by 2037. Use the tree protection area criteria in SMC 25.11.060 that allows for reduction of the tree protection area  according to ANSI 200 standards. Let the SDCI Director decide on the final required tree protection area.
  2. Give the SDCI Director authority to also decide on removal of Tier 3 and Tier 4 trees, not the developers as is currently done. Urban forests need to have trees of all ages to be sustainable and healthy. The goal of SDCI should be to maximize the retention of existing healthy trees whenever possible.
  3. Require lots have designated tree retention and planting areas. Portland, Oregon recommends a tree planting area of 50 square feet for small trees, 75 square feet for medium sized trees and 100 – 150  square feet for large trees.
  4. Require a tree inventory and landscape plan be done at the beginning of the development process before approval of any building site plan is submitted. This will help both developers and the city expedite necessary decisions at the beginning of the process on maximizing retention of existing trees and planting new trees.
  5. The point system for planting trees on a lot allows most trees, particularly large ones to be removed and replaced with saplings. Require that plans maximize the retention of existing healthy trees that already are the survivors and providing services.
  6. Require all trees removed over 6” DSH during development pay an in lieu mitigation fee for environmental services lost to the city, as well as replacing when possible, the removed trees either on site or off site to sustain our urban forest benefits to the city. The current system allows developers to replace a tree of any size removed on the property and not have to pay mitigation for the loss of the trees benefits if they replant a tree on site.  Portland ,Oregon has a mitigation in-lieu fee for environmental services lost as a result of trees removal that has raised over $1 million/year to pay for replanting trees.
  7. Set up a Tree Replacement and Preservation Fund independent from SDCI’s budget to collect the mitigation in-lieu fees and for public donations or grants that can be used to plant and protect trees.
  8. Require all new development projects, not just principal housing units, to have street trees. This includes ADU’s and building additions over 250 square feet. Currently only new principal buildings and building additions of 1000 square feet are required to add street trees if none are on the building site street front.
  9. Allow stacked flats to be built on all lots in the neighborhood residential zone, not just those over 6,000 square feet, which represent less than 45% of the current NR lots in the city. Stacked flats would allow more open space to retain and plant trees. Provide incentives for building stacked flats. See Urbanist article here The Deck is Stacked Against Stacked Flats.
  10. Give incentives to build housing units with common shared walls to increase open space on lots for retaining and planting trees for environmental equity, climate resilience, reducing air pollution and stormwater runoff.
  11. Amend canopy definition for replacement to include canopy area and volume to consider environmental services and benefits lost when different size trees and different species are removed.

Steve Zemke

Chair TreePAC and Friends of Seattle’s Urban Forest

 

Letter Sent to Seattle City Council regarding Amendments to CB 120993

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Dear Seattle City Council members, 

Neither the proposed Comprehensive Plan update or CB 120993 give adequate oversight or protection for maintaining a thriving healthy urban forest over the long term. The current Tree Protection Ordinance was adopted prior to the current proposed Comprehensive Plan, WA State HB 1110  and new zoning proposed in CB120993. SMC 25.11 – the Tree Protection Ordinance needs to be reviewed and amended to address the increased loss of trees and urban forest ecosystem services under the current changes proposed. 

Council Bill 120993 needs amendments to protect and plant more trees where people live if Seattle wants to reach its 30% canopy goal, address urban heat island impacts, reduce air pollution and stormwater runoff and keep our neighborhoods healthy where people live.  

Here are amendments we believe need to be made now: 

  1. Remove the “basic tree protection area” loophole in SMC 25.11.070 that lets developers solely make the decision to remove Tier 2 trees. SDCI is responsible to help protect Seattle neighborhoods and keep them healthy as well as supporting the city reaching a 30% tree canopy by 2037. Use the tree protection area criteria in SMC 25.11.060 that allows for allows according to ANSI 200. Let SDCI Director decide on required tree protection area. 
  2. Give SDCI Director authority to also decide on removal of Tier 3 and Tier 4 trees, not the developers as is currently done. Urban forests need to have trees of all ages to be sustainable and healthy. The goal of SDCI should be to maximize the retention of existing healthy trees whenever possible. 
  3. Require lots have designated tree retention and planting areas. Portland, Oregon recommends a tree planting area of 50 square feet for small trees, 75 square feet for medium sized trees and 100 square feet for large trees.  
  4. Require a tree inventory and landscape plan be done at the beginning of the development process before approval of any building site plan is submitted. This will help both developers and the city expedite necessary decisions at the beginning of the process on maximizing retention of existing trees and planting new trees.   
  5. The point system for planting trees on a lot allows most trees, particularly large ones, to be removed and replaced with saplings. Require that plans maximize the retention of existing healthy trees that already are the survivors and providing services.   
  6.  Require all trees removed over 6” DSH during development pay an in lieu mitigation fee for environmental services lost to the city, as well as replanting, when possible, the removed trees either on site or off site to sustain our urban forest benefits to the city. The current system allows developers to replace a tree of any size tree removed on the property and not have to pay mitigation for the loss of the trees benefits if they replant a tree on site.  Portland, Oregon has a mitigation in lieu fee for environmental services lost that has raised over $1 million/year to pay for replanting trees.  
  7.  Set up a Tree Replacement and Preservation Fund independent from SDCI’s budget to collect the mitigation in lieu fees and for public donations or grants that can be used to plant and protect trees.  
  8.  Require all new development projects, not just principal housing units, to have street trees. This includes ADU’s and building additions over 250 square feet. Currently only new principal buildings and building additions of 1000 square feet are required to add street trees if none are on the building site street front. 
  9. Allow stacked flats to be built on all lots in the neighborhood residential zone, not just those over 6,000 square feet, which represent less than 40% of the current NR lots in the city. Stacked flats would allow more open space to retain and plant trees. Provide incentives for building stacked flats. See Urbanist article here The Deck is Stacked Against Stacked Flats. 
  10. Give incentives to build housing units with common shared walls to increase open space on lots for retaining and planting trees for environmental equity, climate resilience, reducing air pollution and stormwater runoff.  
  11. Amend canopy definition for replacement to include canopy area and volume to consider environmental services and benefits lost when different size trees and different species are removed.   

Steve Zemke 

Chair TreePAC and Friends of Seattle’s Urban Forest  

E-mails needed now to increase tree retention and planting during development in Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential Zone

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E-mails needed now to increase tree retention and planting during development in Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential Zone

The Seattle City Council is working to adopt its CB 120985 – Comprehensive Plan and Council Bill 120993 to implement WA State HB 1110 allowing 4 to 6 plexes in Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential zones. Council Bill 120993 needs amendments to protect and plant more trees where people live if Seattle wants to reach its 30% canopy goal, address urban heat island impacts, reduce air pollution and stormwater runoff and keep our neighborhoods healthy where people live.

Please use the suggested comments to send an e-mail to the Seattle City Council and Mayor Harrell. You can cut and paste the comments below, pick and choose from the comments, and add your own thoughts.

The Seattle City Council has set a deadline for Council members to submit proposed amendments this Thursday, June 26, 2025.

Here are the amendments we are asking Councilmembers to submit:

  • Remove the “basic tree protection area” loophole in SMC 25.11.070 that lets developers remove large (Tier 2) trees. Use the tree protection area criteria in SMC 25.11.060 to give SDCI final authority on tree removals, not developers.
  • Give SDCI authority to decide on removal of Tier 3 and Tier 4 trees, not the developers as is currently done. Urban forests need to have trees of all ages to be sustainable and healthy.
  • Require lots have designated tree retention and planting areas.
  • Require a tree inventory and landscape plan be done at the beginning of the development process before approval of any building site plan is submitted.
  • The point system for planting trees on a lot allows all trees to be removed and replaced with saplings. Require that plans maximize the retention of existing healthy trees.
  • Require all trees removed over 6” DSH pay an in lieu mitigation fee for environmental services lost to the city, as well as replanting the removed trees either onsite or pay for off site planting to sustain our urban forest benefits to the city and its inhabitants.
  • Set up a Tree Replacement and Preservation Fund independent from SDCI’s budget to collect in lieu mitigation fees and for public donations and grants.
  • Require all new development projects, not just principal housing units, to have street trees. This includes ADU’s and building additions over 250 square feet.
  • Allow stacked flats to be built on all lots in the neighborhood residential zone, not just those over 6,000 square feet. Stacked flats would allow more open space to retain and plant trees.
  • Give incentives to build housing units with common shared walls to increase open space on lots for retaining and planting trees for environmental equity, climate resilience, reducing air pollution and storm water runoff.
  • Consolidate urban forest oversight and maintenance in a Dept. of Climate and Environment with an Urban Forestry Division independent from SDCI and other city Departments.
  • Amend canopy cover assessment in next Tree Canopy Study to include not just canopy area but also canopy volume.

Neither the proposed Comprehensive Plan nor CB 120993 give adequate oversight or protection for maintaining a thriving healthy urban forest over the long term. The current Tree Protection Ordinance was adopted prior to the current proposed Comprehensive Plan and new zoning proposed in CB120993. SMC 25.11 – the Tree Protection Ordinance needs to be reviewed and amended to address the increased loss of trees and urban forest ecosystem services under the current changes proposed.

Send comments to Council@Seattle.gov and Bruce.Harrell@Seattle.gov

Seattle City Council Select Committee on Comprehensive Plan June 5th 2025 meeting agenda.

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SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan Agenda

June 5, 2025 – 9:30 AM Meeting

Location: Council Chamber, City Hall , 600 4th Avenue , Seattle, WA 98104

Agenda for June 5th Meeting

This meeting also constitutes a meeting of the City Council, provided that the meeting shall be conducted as a committee meeting under the Council Rules and Procedures, and Council action shall be limited to committee business. Only written public comment will be accepted at this meeting. Please submit written comments to all Councilmembers two hours prior to the meeting at Council@seattle.gov or at Seattle City Hall, Attn: Council Public Comment, 600 4th Ave., Floor 2, Seattle, WA 98104.

Check documents in Agenda for meeting.

Heads up – a public hearing is being scheduled for Monday June 23rd at 9:30 AM on Comprehensive Plan and HB 1110 legislation. Check for more details when that is released on Council calendar with agenda

Urge Seattle City Council to Maximize Saving Trees as We Build Needed Housing

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Urge City Council to Maximize Saving Trees as We Build Needed Housing

Comments to increase tree retention and planting during development needed now to Seattle City Council Bill 120969

Dear Tree PAC supporters,

The Seattle City Council is adopting legislation on Wednesday this  week to implement WA State HB 1110 which requires the city to allow developers to build 4 and 6 plexes in Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential Districts. We support the need to increase more housing supply in urban areas. We do not, however, support clearcutting building lots to do this.

One major concern is that  Seattle City Council Bill 120969 will significantly change the building code to reduce setbacks on lots without evaluating how this will impact the city’s ability to retain existing trees or set aside space to plant trees to meet tree code requirements. They say they can evaluate this later but also say they are not intending to update the The Tree Protection Ordinance, SMC 25.11, even though there are a number of provisions needing updating. Other concerns are listed below.

The Seattle City Council Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan will consider amendments and vote on the CB 120969 on Wednesday May 21st. There will be no public comments on Wednesday but you can still e-mail comments, the sooner the better.
Please send an email with your comments. to Council@seattle.gov and bruce.harrell@seattle.gov
Suggested Comments for e-mails – feel free to copy these and add your own comments or write your own statement:

1. Please amend CB 120969 to keep the current setbacks of 20 feet in the front and 25 feet in the rear instead of 10 feet in the front and 10 feet in the back or zero feet if an alleyway. These reductions will not allow sufficient place to retain or plant most larger trees.

2. Amend  Seattle Tree Protection Ordinance section SMC 25.11.070 to remove the provisions that the basic tree protection area cannot be modified during development. The International Society of Arboriculture and SMC 25.11.130 say it can be modified. SMC 25.11.050 details how this can be done.

3. Allow the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) to ask for alternative site designs to save existing healthy trees where possible and create designated tree planting areas. The goal should be to maximize the retention of existing trees where possible.

4. Remove the increased ability in CB 120969 for SDCI that would allow more building in critical areas, particularly steep slopes.

5. Amend the replacement in lieu fee provision in SMC 25.11 to be like Portland Oregon has – an in lieu mitigation fee for larger trees removed to compensate for tree services lost to the city with their removal, like storm water runoff reduction, air pollution removal and heat island impact reduction.

6. Require street trees to be planted for all building construction, including ADU’s which is not currently required.

7. Require all building done under CB 120969 to comply with tree replacement and in lieu fees required under SMC 25.11.110

8. Set up the One Seattle Tree Fund proposed in Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order 2023-3, the One Seattle Tree Plan. Expand it to include grants and donations and fines to be used for planting more trees.
Thank you for submitting comments!

Steve Zemke – Chair TreePAC.org