Council Members Stepping Into BEX Project?
I had previously posted about how neighbors who live around Ingraham High School were upset over the potential loss (if the project proceeds as planned) of a large grove of trees by the school. (There is also an appeal to the City for a grove of trees in the Maple Leaf neighborhood.) Now two Council members, Sally Clark and Richard Conlin, have stepped into the fray. Here is an article printed in the Times this morning. From the article:
"Mayor Greg Nickels has said he intends to introduce new tree preservation rules by year's end but he has not committed to preserving stands of trees on private property."
It seems the Council is moving faster than the Mayor; perhaps they want to try to save these two groves of trees before they can be taken down.
(Just as an aside, there is a developer who wants to build on the corner of 12th and 66th NE near Roosevelt High. The major sticking point? An "exceptional" tree that is unexceptional in looks and also has a big bite taken out of one side because it had to be cut back away from power lines. It's hard for the neighborhood to understand saving this one tree that the City has hacked away at anyway. These issues are not easy.)
"The resolution introduced by Council President Richard Conlin and Council member Sally Clark will be the subject of a public hearing at 2 p.m. on June 24 and could be acted on by the full council June 30.
The department's existing rules focus on protecting individual, "exceptional" trees, rather than groves.
Council officials say that gap has meant that proposed construction projects, such as town houses near the Maple Leaf reservoir and the expansion of Ingraham High School, may result in the cutting down of stands of Douglas firs and other evergreens whose diameters are too small to meet the department's threshold for preservation."
What's the Mayor's take?"Mayor Greg Nickels has said he intends to introduce new tree preservation rules by year's end but he has not committed to preserving stands of trees on private property."
It seems the Council is moving faster than the Mayor; perhaps they want to try to save these two groves of trees before they can be taken down.
(Just as an aside, there is a developer who wants to build on the corner of 12th and 66th NE near Roosevelt High. The major sticking point? An "exceptional" tree that is unexceptional in looks and also has a big bite taken out of one side because it had to be cut back away from power lines. It's hard for the neighborhood to understand saving this one tree that the City has hacked away at anyway. These issues are not easy.)
Comments
I think it is shameful that it takes a city ordinance to make a public entity like a school district save trees. You would think a school like Ingraham would want to save trees.
The school is named after a mountaneer who climbed Mt. Rainier 13 times, 11 of them to the top. A man who was known to be an outdoorsman, perhaps even the first of the ENVIRONMENTALIST, I wonder if he is turning over in his grave at the proposal to cut down 90 trees? Especially when there are at least 3 other options for the addition.
By the way this is another one of those "Don't tell the Public moments", The first meeting for the public was in March, only people with east/west addresses were notified. The people to mainly be affected live north/south.
Great Schools we have, Democracy= Secrecy.