The Seattle Department of Transportation has approved the removal of six street trees at the former Harvey Family Funeral Home site at 508 N 36th St.
The June 22 decision covers the three red maples on N 36th Street, two incense cedars on Evanston Avenue N, and one ash tree on Dayton Avenue N, which Fremont Neighbor reported on last month. SDOT said it determined removal was the only feasible option after reviewing canopy and root impacts from the planned construction.
Tree Action Seattle filed a formal challenge on June 30, arguing that SDOT’s conclusions “do not adequately demonstrate that their removal is unavoidable or that preservation alternatives were fully considered consistent with the preservation objectives of SMC 15.43 and the SDOT Street Tree Manual.”
The organization said that independent field measurements show that between 58% and 81% of each maple’s canopy lies within the public right-of-way. They argue this is inconsistent with SDOT’s finding that about half of each tree’s canopy would need to be pruned.
Tree Action Seattle is asking the Director of Transportation to reverse the decision. They’re also requesting a preservation analysis, technical arborist findings, and evaluation of alternatives.
The Frank apartment project is a seven-story building being developed by Prometheus Real Estate Group with Exxel Pacific as general contractor. The project will plant 15 replacement trees along N 36th Street, Evanston Avenue N and Dayton Avenue N.
Anyone may request a Director’s Review by submitting a written request by July 2 to dot_directors_office@seattle.gov with a cc to publicspace@seattle.gov and DOT_LA@seattle.gov. The request must identify the decision being challenged, the grounds for objection based on city standards, and the specific remedy being proposed. The Director’s decision is final.
5 responses to “SDOT approves N 36th Street tree removal; advocacy group challenges decision”
Every year that the Summers in Seattle get hotter. The trees that shade the public sidewalks become more and more essential. If there isn’t an issue with the tree structurally, if they aren’t a danger, we should be prioritizing their matinee and care, not cutting them down.
If trees can be removed from parking strips for development, our city has lost its way.
Please stop clear cutting our city.
Trees provide the mental health and physical cooling we need to survive.
And our city claims to honor the land taken from first nation people only to continue the clear cutting of our northwest urban forest that they seek to protect. And then has a program to replant. What a circle of waste.
This is murder of a new green kind. This stretch of road has zero shade
I grieve the loss of majestic lives that brought joy and comfort. Many of our big trees are dying due to harsh environmental conditions, not just development pressures. The big, beautiful Scarlet Sentinel maples along 39th have been dying, at least four in the past year. The Red Sunset maples along 36th and Leary have been dying at a slower rate, with two currently dead and awaiting removal at 1st Ave NW and 36th. We grieve, as humans do. Where do we direct our actions in response to our grief?
We can grieve with the first peoples who watched our predecessors clear-cut old growth forests to build the neighborhoods where we live today. We grieve the immense salmon runs reduced to a trickle due to clear-cutting for greenfield developments that reduces habitat, long commutes creating vehicular particulates that poison the water bodies they swim and spawn in, and climate change that heats to deadly temperatures the waterways they must return through. We grieve for our resident orcas, starving from lack of the salmon they depend on for food, whose bodies accumulate the poisons we leave where we go, and for the mother who carries her dead infant for weeks. We grieve for the victims of vehicular violence. We grieve for the people who have died from trying to live on our streets without shelter.
Where can we proactively direct our grief? We can speak up for urban patterns that allow more people to live within our urban boundaries, patterns that reduce car dependency, in turn reducing water and air poisoning particulates and climate changing emissions and making our streets safer for everyone. We can advocate for more people living vertically, enacting codes that allow taller infill buildings with less lot coverage, leaving space for shared back gardens. We can speak up for more publicly accessible green space. By some estimates 27 percent of land in Seattle is in the public right of way. With reduced car dependency we can depave and green more of that public land. Rather than fighting against current events, we can turn the discussion and plan for how to do things better. Doing nothing is not an option. Fighting change is counterproductive. Let’s work towards solutions for the way things are now and work together for a future that is different from the way things have been. Work through the grief and move forward.
Thank you, Lydia, for your kinds words, gentle understanding and powerful wisdom. I very much appreciate what you’ve written. Thank you for taking the time and for caring.
As more trees disappear, Fremont looks more and more like a shopping mall parking lot. “Replacement trees” is a euphemism for trees that will not be able to offer the many environmental benefits of the originals for decades.