Reminder: Open house on managing city’s tree cover set for June 22

The City of Edmonds will hold a public open house to discuss managing the city’s trees on Thursday, June 22 in the 3rd floor Brackett Room of City Hall, 121 5th Ave. N., Edmonds.

The public can drop by anytime between 6:30-8 p.m. A presentation will be given at 7 p.m.

“We want to share information and hear from people about how the city’s urban forest — the trees and tree canopy — should be managed over the long term,” said Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling. “For example, do we need more trees in some places? What kind? Should all trees be saved, no matter what?”

The city is beginning development of an urban forestry management plan, following a discussion two years ago regarding a draft tree code that would have affected the planning and cutting of trees on private property.

The city council decided not to adopt the draft tree code, but instead expressed a desire to find the right balance for managing trees — especially when it came to trees in the right of way and on public property.

Last year, the council selected Davey Resource group to help develop an urban forest management plan for Edmonds, and the firm has been gathering information for the city’s Tree Board and city staff.

The June 22 open house is designed to show what’s been learned so far about the city’s tree canopy and managing trees in an urban environment.

 

 

  1. I am fine with City trees in our walkways and the protected woods we have around Edmonds. However the people of Edmonds spoke very strongly about the trees in their own yards, that the City has no rights to create a “Tree Plan” for their property.

  2. I live in a neighborhood that looks more like a jungle than an urban forest. The trees are so thick that no sunlight comes through. There is moss on the sidewalks and houses and I do not find this charming or beautiful. The trees are not cared for. They are a wild mess. Unkempt and untended trees cause mayhem when there are wind storms. No wonder we have so many downed power lines and damage due to fallen trees. If people want an urban forest, they need to properly take care of it. So if you want trees in your yards, take care of them.

  3. A tree can be on your property for 100 years before you show up, and hundreds of years after, why should a property owner have such power.

    1. The property owner is responsible for the upkeep of those tress and legally liable should a rotted tree do damage. Many owners even have in their deeds the timber rights, should they choose to log them. And trees in the wild don’t last forever ( though they last a long time). Point is that the trees on private property aren’t the City’s trees to manage. By the way, where are the minutes no notes from the tree board? I couldn’t find them online.

  4. We moved into Firdale in 95. It was a quite, cool neighborhood. The fir trees were everywhere and keep it that way.

    Now most have been taken out. It’s hotter in the summer. The wind gets down to street level. I can hear every car on Hwy 99 and the ferry offloading. It’s changed a lot.

    I get it. You have this big tree. It drops needles, pine cones and sometimes branches. It’s messy, makes it a challenge to garden under, there are safety concerns. You just want it gone.

    I would like to remind “those that have big firs” why they chose to live here. This isn’t southern California. It’s a beautiful green place with living things that are bigger than ourselves. I don’t want to live in a parking lot and I don’t think any of you do either.

    There are options to cutting down those big firs. Have them thinned. It will cost less, makes the tree safe from the wind and still provide shade. Topping was once a popular option. Please don’t, it causes to tree to fill in. Making it even easier to blow down.

    As for the city regulating trees on private property, I’ll say this. We live in a very tight community. What you do on “your property” has a effect on your neighbors. We have all kind of rules to regulate our actions on private property for the benefit of the whole community. To say “I don’t want the city telling me what I can and can’t do on my property” is to ignore the whole communities wishes.

    You want a model of some of the benefits of a well managed private property tree ordinance. Take a drive thru Woodway. How do you think it would look if everyone was to take out all of those old firs and ceders.

    You don’t like moss? Hello, it’s a RAIN FORREST. Moss is our primary crop!

    1. Well, those trees cost money. Thinning, pruning arborist and all. What the “community wishes” seems to depend on someone else footing the bill. If the City wants to manage trees on private property: then the ” community” should foot the bill for such management. But the homeowner last go round, was to not only foot the bill but pay for the program via permit fees for the property owner to pay. The City shouldering the bill is the only fair way to grant the “communities wishes”. And frankly the City does little to assure the health of a trees on public property. All those rotted trees that fell down in the parks during the last windstorm as example. It is, for those footing the bill an expensive undertaking, and the city knows that.

  5. One of my main concerns is trees obstructing street signs, highway signs, etc. That creates a danger. This seems to be a problem all around Puget Sound. Out-of-towners have no idea which lane to be in to get on I-5 until they are on top of it–by then it is too late. Signage needs to be visible within a reasonable distance.

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