SEATTLE — A fight over trees took center stage at a Seattle City Council meeting on Tuesday. The issue - an ordinance intended to balance housing needs and the city’s tree canopy.
There have been six previous meetings discussing the ordinance but on Tuesday, it officially passed.
There are two sides to the passing of the ordinance and both are equally passionate. On one side people are happy that action and conservation of some sort are happening but on the other side, people are frustrated and worried that the ordinance will not do what it says it will do.
The city is currently protecting 17,000 trees. But some residents, like Hugh Clark, say that is not enough so the city is proposing a new ordinance that would add 52,000 trees.
“I spend a lot of time outdoors so of course I’m in favor of increasing the canopy,” said resident Hugh Clark.
Councilmember Alex Pedersen said the current ordinance does not protect trees and added that it would turn the Emerald City into “Stumptown”.
Longtime residents see the value in Seattle’s tree canopy and hope the city council does too.
“I know that the more trees the city has the more viable it is the richer the neighborhood is the more trees they have so I hope some of these efforts are expanded and really put towards neighborhoods that don’t have the tree canopy like say Wallingford has,” said resident Sheryl Belcher.
Other longtime residents are hoping that whatever comes down the pipeline takes two sides of the story into consideration.
“I think there has to be a balance between building houses and saving the tree canopy and I know some of the plans out there are doing that,” said resident Tracy Flynn.
With the tree canopy coverage backsliding and mixed reviews across the council, all seemed to agree that there is more to be done to make this tree protection ordinance more satisfactory for the community, especially on the south side.
©2023 Cox Media Group
