TreePAC and Neighborhood Treekeepers
Protest Clearcut of 14 lots for Townhouse Development.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
N 145th St and 1st Ave NE, Shoreline (just north of Lakeside School)
Tree PAC and Neighborhood Treekeepers held a protest and press conference after a developer clearcut many large trees and a grove of large mature tress on a 12 lot townhouse development in Shoreline
Shoreline, WA recently passed an up zone for development near the proposed NE 145th St light rail station. Shoreline’s new ordinance “does not require that any trees be protected” in this upzone area and so allows 100% removal of existing trees. The disastrous result of this policy can be clearly seen on the 14 lot development of townhouses planned at the corner of 1st Ave NE and N 145th in Shoreline. The 12 lot development spreads north to 147th and then east along the north side of the block.
Although much of the 12 lot property did not have many trees, those that were there were large The developers removed almost all the trees on the project as well as a grove of large Douglas Fir trees.
These trees would have provided great benefits for the new residents as well as the community at large. Rather than save some trees, the developers choose to “remove almost all of the trees” on the lots to maximize their profit, given the loosening of development requirements by the city of Shoreline.
Bulldozers and construction equipment were visible on the lots. Bulldozers were removing stumps of the cut trees. Other machines were stacking logs and a huge pile of branches and stumps to be removed.
The cut trees were 80 – 100 years old. It takes 80 years to replace an 80 year old tree. The neighbors and Shoreline just lost a lot of natural environmental services in that old trees accumulate more much carbon sequestration than young trees. Also lost is the air cleaning and pollution removal benefits of trees and reduction in stormwater runoff.
This tree removal is in addition to the massive clearcutting of trees along I-5 for the construction of light rail heading north. That project will remove some 5300 trees along the I-5 corridor.