Shoreline City Council Passes Tree Ordinance 4-3 to Limit Some Cutting

The Shoreline City Council by a 4-3 vote supported an amended ordinance dealing with tree conservation and cutting that will limit the number and size of trees that can be cut without a permit.

Councilmembers Will Hall, Chris Roberts, Jesse Salomon and Chris Eggen voted for the ordinance to support the limits on tree cutting, while Mayor Keith McGlashan, Doris McConnell and Shari Winstead voted no.

Under the ordinance, a maximum of three significant trees (eight inches in diameter or more) can be cut on a small lot without acquiring a clearing and grading permit from the city which is $450.

On a large lot, a maximum of six significant trees can be cut, without a clearing a grading permit.

Any trees of 30-inches or greater in diameter require a clearing and grading permit.

"(The ordinance) reduces the number of trees they can cut in a three-year period without a permit and large trees," Eggen said. 

Many residents and activists spoke out in favor of the Planning Commission's recommended ordinance which was more favorable to tree protection than what was eventually adopted.

Still, activists, like Lance Young, who has fought for tree protections on the Interurban Trail and former Councilwoman Janet Way, an avid tree supporter who represents the Shoreline Preservation Socity were pleased with the result and felt it was progress. Young presented a plaque to the Council during the public comment period thanking them for their efforts to protect trees.

"It's a significant victory," Way said. "We had over 30 letters supporting the Planning Commission's approval."

Meanwhile, Innis Arden resident Steve Johnston spoke out against the Planning Commission's recommendations and said he wished to cut several 30-plus inch trees on his property and said a limit would affect his property rights.

He said he likes trees and plants trees but wants to manage his property as he sees fit.  

"It's going to hurt me and cost me money," he said, of the limits on cutting 30-inch trees. 

Debate about trees in Shoreline has been ongoing for years, and in early 2009, the City Council directed the Planning Commission and staff to prepare updated development regulations for trees, according to city documents.

The reasons were threefold: (1) the perception that at the citywide scale, the City is losing tree canopy at a significant rate; (2) the ongoing debate at the project scale about the proper balance between retention of existing trees and the accommodation of new development; and (3) the fact that parts of the current regulations are unclear and cumbersome for staff to administer.

Perceptions of many tree supporters in Shoreline are that the city has lost tree canopy and cite anecdotal evidence of trees being cut near their property and Innis Arden. They disagree with the central conclusions of an assessment paid for by a state grant that the City had not lost significant tree canopy over the past two decades, with the canopy remaining at approximately 31 percent.

Parks Board member Boni Biery said during public comment she believes when neighbors have cut trees near her property it diminishes her property's value and is bad aesthetically and for the local ecosystem.