Seattle’s street tree ordinance, which applies to all trees in public places, is being updated for the first time in 50 years. On Wednesday, March 27th, at 9:30am, the new proposal will be presented to the City Council Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee. Here is the link for the proposal. Public comment will be taken at the beginning of the meeting. The new proposal will require all major pruning to be done by a certified arborist and under a street use permit. If you’d like to compliment them for this nice beginning of a tree permit system for Seattle or you have other comments or questions, here are the e-mail addresses for the committee members: Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov (chair), Mike.Obrien@seattle.gov, Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov, Sally.Clark@seattle.gov (alternate).
Same Old Private Property Tree Ordinance:
On the issue of a tree protection ordinance for trees on private property we are sorry to have to report that the city council will be postponing any further action for about a year, until after the elections. The interim ordinance will remain in force. Cass Turnbull of PlantAmnesty and TreePac reports also that in the proposed new ordinance DPD has lowered the threshold for protected trees from 24” to 12”. You can write to the city council members above with complaints and/or kudos.
