Tag Archives: Seattle Comprehensive Plan

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

 

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