FRIENDS OF EDMONDS TREES
THIS
Reported by Lu Loree
JUNE 2025
Not THIS
The end of one story . . .
. . . and the beginning of another.
06-03-2025
The spirit of ‘Big Red’ lives on in a new group, Friends of Edmonds Trees, that has recently formed. Their mission is to protect the remaining legacy trees in Edmonds.
One of the ways they hope to accomplish this is by supporting the establishment of a strong Tree Code by the city.
Shortly after the cutting down of ‘Big Red’, at a City Council meeting on April 21, 2025, Susan Paine, President Pro-Tem, proposed an Interim Tree Ordinance and it was adopted by the Council with a 6-0 vote.
The Ordinance stipulated, in Section 5, that the City Council should hold a Public Hearing on the regulation within 60 days of its adoption. That Public Hearing is to be held on June 10, 2025. Read the Interim Tree Code Ordinance HERE.
The Friends of Edmonds Trees group met to plan for the June 10 City Council meeting.
06-10-2025
At the City Council meeting this Tuesday, June 10, a Public Hearing was held, as required, on the Interim Tree Ordinance that had been adopted by the Council on April 21. This was to give residents a chance to voice their opinions about the Ordinance to the Council. Every person who spoke favored the passage of this Ordinance.
Residents have also been commenting in MyEdmondsNews about this issue. Two comments are related HERE.
JULY 2025
7-7-2025
FOET meeting - Ben Marks presented “Edmonds Tree Code and what should be in an ideal Tree Code.
Bill Phipps talked about the problems with the current Edmonds Tree Code.
There was a discussion on the Tree Code Work Plan and how to divide up the tasks.
7-9-2025
Planning Board meeting. Tree Code revisions were presented to the Board by City Attorney Jeff Taraday.
7-23-2025
Discussed “minor revisions” to the Tree Code. Kathleen Sears reported: “Good news! They accepted ALL of our revisions.
Remaining questions:
1) Is the fee-in-lieu-of payment set high enough to encourage developers to save as many trees as possible?
2). Is the 20-year time-frame for yielding the same environmental value the right amount of time?
While the above discussion is going on . . .
More trees recently cut down in Edmonds. The one on the left is on Pine St. The one in the center is a close-up of one of the group of trees in the right-hand photo. They are on Edmonds Way.
