The Seattle City Light tree-trimming that’s been under way for the past few months (WSB coverage here, here, and here) has sparked controversy and concern in a Fauntleroy neighborhood. Last week, resident John McNulty cc’d WSB on a complaint to the city and attached two photos including the one you see above, taken along SW Trenton, showing big cedar trees that he says were “badly damaged” by a trimming crew, and asking for a “public apology” to the neighborhood. We heard the next day from the owner of the property where one of the trees is located, Fred Fleischmann, who wrote, “The trimming they are doing this time is excessive and is destroying beautiful big old cedar trees that are irreplaceable.” Since then, we’ve been pursuing information from City Light, and got it today. The utility acknowledges one of the trees was trimmed too “aggressively” by an Asplundh crew which has since been removed from the contract. But the other tree’s a different story, according to the city – here’s everything we have found out:
First, the backstory on the trimming — City Light has been working for several months in West Seattle neighborhoods, in some cases for the first time in years — to trim trees so that there will be 10 feet of clearance around power lines. The utility says that’s necessary both to avoid fire hazards and to avoid power-outage problems — during the December 2006 windstorm, most of the power outages were caused by trees vs. power lines.
In communication directly with homeowners and at the public meeting we covered in January, City Light arborists noted that the type of cuts that crews would have to make would not necessarily be aesthetically pleasing – in many cases, branches would have to go all the way back to the trunk.
That’s what happened in the case of the tree shown above. Scott Thomsen from City Light says the type of trimming done on that tree was “appropriate” to a point along the top of the tree — but, he confirms, the crew trimmed the branches too far down the trunk, several feet further than necessary for the power-line clearance. “We were not happy, and that crew has been removed from the city contract,” Thomsen told WSB today.
Now, the other tree – a more dramatic photo, sent to us by another source, but not a case of trimming error, Thomsen says:
That tree is at the corner of Trenton and 45th (map). Thomsen says it had been topped before, and crews were in the process of topping it again for the power-line-clearance work. They had completed the first day of work and had gone back for the second day when, “in consulation with the property owner,” he says, it was decided the tree should be removed.
Thomsen says the tree did not have to be removed, and that the property owner could have chosen to just have it topped, but wanted it taken out. “It’s in a location that is just in conflict with the power lines,” as the photo shows, he notes. The tree is in Seattle Department of Transportation right-of-way — though it’s the property owner’s responsibility to maintain, as with all trees in those areas (such as parking strips) — so City Light has had to apply for a permit for the removal. Thomsen says the utility also sent someone to the neighborhood for a followup visit with affected property owners and neighbors.
The trimming work continues around West Seattle; today, crews were working along the Thistle Street staircase down the hillside to Lincoln Park, and closed the staircase during the work. If trimmers are coming to your neighborhood, you should have received a door-hanger, if not a doorknock.
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