Unlawful tree cutting endangered homes, Tacoma residents say. They want code changes

The view from the new Narrows Ridge development is stunning.

Homes in the soon-to-be built, gated community along Mildred Street in Tacoma’s West End will look out to the Narrows Bridge and Olympic mountains, spanning 180 degrees from Gig Harbor to the Nisqually Delta.

“Beyond exceptional, waterfront, panoramic view homesite,” is the description of one Narrows Ridge property listed for $875,000 with a sale pending on Redfin. The seven lots are being developed by Rush Residential.

People living in Salmon Beach, a community of about 80 homes on Puget Sound down slope from the new development, have a different point of view. About 15 of their homes are directly below the Narrows Ridge development.

Residents there are frustrated, claiming the developer broke city tree-cutting laws to improve views, leading to an increased risk of landslides and threat to Salmon Beach homes, which can only be reached by foot.

Rush Residential told The News Tribune it is confident, after consulting with experts, that the hillside is stable and that the city allowed for approved tree cutting.

Reports from experts indicate the tree cutting should have low to moderate impacts on the slope’s stability, and records show that Rush Residential is working with the city on mitigation measures.

But Salmon Beach residents want more to be done, arguing that the city’s current code doesn’t do enough to discourage developers from cutting down more trees than they’re permitted.

SALMON BEACH

It was 2019 when residents of Salmon Beach felt something was amiss.

For more than a decade, they knew development was on the way to the property above them. Rush Residential purchased about 10 acres of undeveloped land from the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation in 2007.

In 2009, an application was submitted to the city for a 14-lot short plat, but it wasn’t approved. In 2014, a new application was submitted and approved for a seven-lot plan.

The approval allowed for some tree cutting, but with requirements, including open space tract at the top of the slopes, according to a 2016 Vegetation Management Plan for the project. Open space tracts are meant to conserve or manage areas of vegetation in the city.

When the tree cutting work began, Alex Bittmann, a Salmon Beach resident since 2014, became concerned.

“They were just dropping (logs) down the hill, and I was worried — I’d watch it, we were watching them do it. And we thought, ‘What if they dislodge a boulder right now?’” he said.

“Our kids play on the beach right here,” added Steve Seiwerath, a Salmon Beach resident since 2013.

Watching the project take shape, Salmon Beach residents began to worry there were more trees being cut than allowed. They notified the city, which determined Rush had over-cut and issued a notice of violation.

“Trees were removed without the approval of City of Tacoma and beyond the scope of approved permits,” according to a March 25, 2019 letter sent to Rush Residential by city land-use planning manager Jana Magoon. “The city approved removal of 25 conifers. To date, based on aerial inspection, the city has documented removal of approximately 40 conifer trees.”

GeoResources is a geotechnical engineering firm previously involved with the project’s vegetation management plan. It shared its concerns with the tree cutting in a letter dated April 24, 2019 to Rush Residential.

“Even though the result of the tree cutting has a potentially low to moderate impact on the overall slope stability, it should be noted that tree removal on the steep slope portion of the site will, no matter how slight, increase the potential for erosion,” the letter stated. “The bluff and slopes below where the tree cutting occurred did not have failures associated with the historic rainfalls over the last two winters. Therefore, in our opinion, any failure in the next 3 to 5 years would be directly related to the tree removal.”

The city required a mitigation plan, which included planting 1,000 seedlings to replace the trees removed on more than 2 acres of impacted area. Rush also was required to apply for an after-the-fact Critical Area Development permit. According to city code, critical areas are defined as “areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for drinking water, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas (FWHCAs), frequently flooded areas, geologically hazardous areas, wetlands, and streams.”

In May, that permit was approved, with conditions that require leak detection on all lawn sprinkler or irrigation systems for the new homes and monitoring of the site for a minimum of 10 years to check on the performance of the new trees that were planted.

The Salmon Beach Improvement Club, while pleased with the mitigation requirements, wanted to see more. The club submitted a reconsideration letter on June 7 that asked that no further removal or pruning of trees be allowed, that removal of invasive plant species that crop up should be required, and that monitoring of the replanted trees should continue yearly through at least 15 years.

“We will remind the City that approximately 15 homes lie directly below the affected property. Homes and lives, including those of many children are in the direct path of potentially catastrophic hill slides due to the careless, dangerous and illegal activities of the Applicant,” according to the Salmon Beach residents’ reconsideration letter.

That request was denied by the city in July.

In June, Rush Residential vice president Scott Walker told The News Tribune in a statement that he is advised not to speak on the issues since they are still pending before the city’s hearing examiner. Walker did say studies from experts show the hillside is stable.

“Many of the issues are technical and we rely heavily on experts,” Walker said. “There has been a lot of confusion because most of the tree removal was actually with the City’s approval. We have submitted reports from geologists and other experts and are completely confident the hillside is stable for the long term.”

Kate Cohn moved to Salmon Beach in 2010 and is the current president of the Salmon Beach Improvement Club. Cohn said she understands that some people might say they should choose to live elsewhere, but she said their situation could apply to other places.

“Let’s say it wasn’t Salmon Beach,” Cohn said. “Let’s say, in a valley somewhere — even if you take out the uniqueness of this, it would not be OK for a developer to over-cut past the guidance they were given, when there are homes underneath.”

Cohn and others want the city to take action to create fines for unpermitted tree cutting in a critical area on private property.

Right now, there isn’t one.

A STRONGER CODE

Illegal tree cutting isn’t a new problem in Tacoma, but most of the violations are on a much smaller scale, stemming from individuals cutting or trimming trees on public right-of-way. The reason is usually to improve private views or to increase yard space.

“The City is currently experiencing a large number of these types of violations,” city spokesperson Megan Snow said via email in April. “We have received and verified the illegal removal of trees in the (city’s) Northeast Tacoma, West End, and North End neighborhoods.”

According to city code, if someone trims or removes a tree without permit approval on public property, they can face a fine not exceeding the value of the vegetation removed plus $1,000.

There are no fines for illegal removal of trees on private property.

“The City currently does not have any penalties, beyond the ability to charge twice the amount for permits necessary to resolve the violation,” Snow said. As of 2021, critical area development permits cost around $9,000.

Salmon Beach residents argue that the fine structure needs to fit the crime, and that as of right now there’s no disincentive for developers not to cut in a critical area.

“Developers basically just look at fine structures and things like that as part of doing business,” Bittmann said. “If it pencils out, they’ll do it anyway.”

“If you know that there’s going to be no repercussions for the action you’re going to take, why not take it when it’s going to completely inflate your ability to sell a piece of property?” Cohn added.

Snow said the city is aware of the complaints about the Rush property and that residents have told city staff to impose a monetary penalty, similar to Seattle.

In Seattle, there are two ways to get fined for illegal tree cutting, according to Bryan Stevens, director of media relations and permit coordination for the City of Seattle. For illegal tree cutting in an environmentally critical area, the fee is $5,000 per tree 6 inches or greater in diameter removed or damaged.

For all other illegal tree removal, the city’s Tree Protection Ordinance uses a specific formula to determine the penalty amount, which takes into consideration the species, size and condition of each tree.

“Also, we can triple the damages if the cutting was willful or malicious (like they did it to clear the way for construction/view when it wouldn’t have been allowed),” Stevens said in an email.

Creating fines for illegal tree cutting would be a City Council decision, Snow added.

John Hines is a Tacoma City Council member representing the West End neighborhood for District 1. When it comes to tree cutting, he said most of the complaints he hears are about a neighbor upset about another neighbor removing a tree in their yard.

Dictating what owners can do on their private properties is tricky, but Hines said he’s not opposed to reexamining trees laws that are already on the city’s books, and examining laws in other areas to see what could or could not work for Tacoma to protect critical areas.

“We’ve said clearly in the past that we want to increase (the city’s) tree canopy,” Hines said.

Having policies that align with that goal is important, he said. The city has a goal to increase its tree canopy cover from 20 percent to 30 percent in 2030, and the city’s Environmental Services Department is working on that effort. Trees add to the quality of life for people living in the city, provide shade that reduces energy and need for street maintenance, and have proven to calm traffic and made neighborhoods quieter, according to the city’s plan.

Hines added that it’s also important to look at the downstream impacts and long-term preservation of properties.

For now, Cohn said she hopes the mitigation measures will be enforced, but she still worries about the future. A major landslide hasn’t happened at Salmon Beach for a while, but she said about once a year there’s a slide that requires a group effort to fix.

“It’s a little bit, like, OK — I’m just holding my breath,” she said.

This story was originally published on The News Tribune.

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