Cards protesting the potential removal of three large evergreen trees in downtown South Park hang over a banner that reads "Protect What You Love."
Cards protesting the potential removal of three large evergreen trees in downtown South Park hang over a banner on Oct. 12, 2024.Photo: Nimra Ahmad

South Park Community Fights Against Tree Removals

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In South Park, residents and environmental activists are advocating for the preservation of trees in danger of being torn down. Just weeks after several trees were cut down at the South Park Community Center and playfield, Tree Action Seattle hosted a community gathering to raise awareness about three large evergreen trees on the 1200 Cloverdale block slated for removal. The Cloverdale Housing project is being developed by Blueprint Capital to create single family residences.

One of the evergreen trees slated for removal at 1219 S. Cloverdale St. The photo is of the top half of the tree, with blue sky behind it.
One of the evergreen trees slated for removal at 1219 S. Cloverdale St. on Oct. 12, 2024. Photo: Nimra Ahmad

Every tree in South Park is precious, according to tree advocate and organizer with Tree Action Seattle, Sandy Shettler. Seattle has a citywide average of 28% tree canopy, but South Park has less than half – just 12%. 

“The problem with everything the city does with trees, whether it's public land or private land, is that they view an existing tree that is protecting people and is thriving and is really large — they view that the same as when they cut it down and plant a stick in the ground,” Shettler said. “Many of those sticks die, and then even if they don't die, it takes about 30 or 40 years at a minimum to get near where the big tree that they chopped down was.”

Part of the reason why South Park may have less tree canopy, South Park resident Susan Davis speculates, is because of a lack of parks and green space. “We have to drive 20 minutes to get to Seward Park or Lincoln Park,” Davis said. “We just have the street trees and the trees on the lots. We don't have a big park in the middle. We have these tiny little parks.”

In September, several trees were cut down at the South Park Community Center as part of renovations taking place. One of the trees lost was known as the “Hugging Tree” — children would hug the tree when they felt sad or or just wanted to give it a hug when they were out in the playground. 

“It has been a tree of lore at South Park,” said South Park resident Lashanna Williams. “It’s really beautiful to see and hear family stories [about the Hugging Tree].”

According to city officials, the Hugging Tree will be replaced with another maple tree. They said it was removed for safety reasons after a branch had fallen, and that it was not due to construction.

The remaining stump of the Hugging Tree with wood shavings around it and the felled tree visible behind it.
The remaining stump of the Hugging Tree. Photo courtesy of Sandy Shettler

“There's a lot of promises of, ‘Oh, we're gonna rebuild your canopy,’” Williams said. “That's great for people 30 years from now. I'm not saying don't do it. But also, what about us right now? Why are you removing these things that are literally helping us?”

According to a study done by the Duwamish River Community Coalition in partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the University of Washington and other groups, residents in South Park have a life expectancy of 73.3 years — eight years less than the Seattle and King County average of 81.5 years, and 13 years less than the more affluent neighborhoods of Laurelhurst and Magnolia.

“I think about that a lot, having lived here for 20 years. It's scary,” said South Park resident Betsy McFeely. “It just doesn't seem equitable to me. I feel like South Park is a terminally underserved community.”

Some of the disproportionate environmental pollutants of South Park are emissions from cars and diesel trucks on multiple freeways that run through the neighborhood — Highway 99, SR-509, and I-5. The neighborhood is also near King County International Airport and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which makes it susceptible to pollution from airplanes. Air pollution has significant health impacts, such as asthma, heart disease, and slowing cognitive development in children, among others.

It’s no accident that this community takes the brunt of environmental impacts. South Park is historically a community of farmers, many of whom were immigrants from China, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, and Italy. Many settled in South Park because they weren’t able to legally purchase property in other neighborhoods due to redlining restrictions. A 2022 UW and Berkeley study found that areas of Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane that were affected by redlining endure worse air pollution on average than other parts of the same cities. 

In the early 1920s, Boeing started building and flying airplanes just north of the neighborhood. When the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was enacted, Highway 99 was created, and later I-5. In the 1960s, the neighborhood was rezoned as industrial, but residents protested and got the zoning changed to low-density residential.

The EPA categorizes South Park as an “environmental justice” community. Seattle created the Duwamish Valley Program in 2018 to prioritize environmental justice and equity in South Park and Georgetown.

Trees are a cheap and easy way to mitigate the effects of air pollution, Shettler said. “Having a single evergreen tree by your home when you live in a polluted neighborhood makes a significant difference in your health,” Shettler said. “Especially evergreens, because evergreen needles encapsulate the little polluting particles, and they basically render them harmless. They encapsulate them and they drop to the ground, or they stay on the tree, so you're not inhaling those into your lungs.”

So why are they being cut down?

In 2023, Seattle updated its Tree Protection Ordinance, which was opposed by the City’s Urban Forestry Commission. The ordinance, which applies to trees on private property, tightened tree removal restrictions for homeowners, but loosened them for developers, allowing for trees to be removed so long as the developers pay a fee or replace the tree. South Park has some unique tree rules under “Residential Small Lot” zoning, which allows for large trees to be replaced with “one small deciduous” tree.

The majority of South Park is zoned as Maritime Manufacturing Logistics (MML) or as Residential Small Lot (RSL) under Seattle’s municipal code, which means it’s a zoning area that allows detached single-family houses as well as attached and detached accessory dwellings.

RSL zones have less space than Neighborhood Residential (NR) zones, which make up much of residential areas of the North End of Seattle. While NR zones have 20 feet of lot area in front of a building and 25 feet in back, RSL zones only allow 10 feet in front and back, providing less space for trees to grow and thrive.

Additionally, in NR zones, only 35% of the lot area is allowed to be used for buildings — whereas in RSL zones, 50% of the lot area can be covered by buildings, once again decreasing the space for trees.

The tree requirements for RSL zones are different from that of NR zones. In 25.11.050, which is part of the city’s Tree Protection Ordinance, the city details when trees may be removed on private property if development is proposed. It gives some protection for trees in various zoning districts, but does not include it in the RSL zone. So while trees in NR zones like Queen Anne and Madison Park have some protection when development is proposed, RSL zones like South Park do not.

In RSL zones like South Park, tree replacements are based on a point system according to 23.44.020.B. A small tree planted after construction per unit of housing can satisfy the tree requirement. The point system equates to about 60% of the required trees actually needing to be retained or planted, according to David Moehring, senior capital planner at the University of Washington. This differs from NR zones, where two inches of tree trunk size need to be retained or planted per 1,000 square feet, increasing the chances of saving trees in NR zones in contrast to RSL zoned lots.

“[RSL zones have] less tree replacements,” Shettler said. “You can replace a [big] tree with a small deciduous tree, instead of even a tree that will eventually get big. So the ordinance allows all trees to be removed, but in these residential small lot areas, it actually allows them to be removed and not replaced, because you're just replacing it with what is essentially a bush.”

“South Park has gotten the short end of the stick in terms of tree retention,” Shettler said. “Knowing what we know about tree retention, they should have gotten more than the average community in Seattle, and they've gotten less.”

According to a study published in late August by Tree Action Seattle, over 1,000 trees have come down in Seattle this year. Of these, over 100 were large trees with trunks measuring over two feet in diameter; 90% of the large trees were removed for construction. Many were in Beacon Hill and South Park.

The stumps of trees that were cut down at South Park Community Center.
Trees that were cut down at South Park Community Center. Photo courtesy of Sandy Shettler

In an email from Bryan Stevens, director of media relations and permit coordination at the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, he emphasized the city’s many initiatives to achieve equitable canopy cover goals.

“Last year, complimentary tree planting programs and partnerships with the community resulted in 2,241 trees planted on public and private lands (this includes Trees for Neighborhoods program) and planted 9,914 trees in forested natural areas (Green Seattle Partnership). More than half of those trees were planted in City-defined race and social equity priority areas,” Stevens wrote.

Stevens also noted that the Office of Sustainability and Environment will begin a tree canopy equity and resilience plan next year. The plan will work towards growing more trees in neighborhoods with “low-canopy heat islands that have historically been harmed most by environmental pollution and racial and economic inequities.”

Currently, residents and activists are fighting to save three large evergreen trees at 1219 S. Cloverdale St. The trees are native and are about 100 years old. Tree Action Seattle found that with a few small changes to the construction design, the trees could be saved without compromising the project — which Shettler said is oftentimes the case. The hope is that with enough petitions, the city will reconsider removing the trees.

“I wish that any tree that legitimately didn't have to come down, didn't come down. You work around [the trees],” Williams said. “…Is it inconvenient? Absolutely. Does it make for different architecture? Yes, but that's how we … stop bossing the land.”

The Emerald reached out to the project’s developer, Blueprint Capital, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Editors' Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly calculated the percentage of trees taken down due to construction and failed to clarify that the city's Tree Protection Ordinance only applies to private property. The Emerald regrets these errors, and they have since been fixed.

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