Ingraham NW Tree Grove Update - King County Superior Court Hearing Set for Nov 5, 2010

Resolution of the battle to save the Ingraham Tree Grove is moving forward. On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle turned down the Seattle School District's petition to remove the Court Injunction put in place by Judge Erlick two years ago to prevent the Seattle School District from cutting 70 trees in the grove to end further environmental review.

Judge Doyle also denied the Seattle School District's request for a $187,000 bond. It should be noted that Save the Trees-Seattle has in fact lowered the cost of whatever is built at Ingraham, not increased the cost. The bid, eg, for the compressed west addition came in at $6.5 million dollars. That's $3.5 million less than the original estimated cost by the Seattle School District.

Save the Trees-Seattle agreed to consolidate the two cases before the court. The original case was an appeal of the School District's Hearing Examiner process arguing that an EIS should have been performed and that a DNS was not appropriate.

The second case was an appeal of the City of Seattle inadequate mitigation of the Project. City law calls for giving a priority to protecting rare and uncommon plant and animal habitat. The City Hearing Examiner agreed the NW Tree Grove was an uncommon plant habitat in Seattle but did not require the Seattle School District to move the Project to another site on the campus.

Save the Trees- Seattle argued that moving the project to save the NW Tree Grove was one of the legal mitigation options the City had but did not exercise, despite the fact that the School District's BEX Project manager agreed under oath that the Seattle School District could build the Project on the open North Lawn and not have to cut down any mature trees.

The Seattle School District continued to deny that the North Lawn was feasible to build on until forced to acknowledge while under oath the existence of an internal e-mail obtained through public records disclosure that the North Lawn Area was actually considered a future building site for a 2 story addition to the school. Save the Trees - Seattle argues that the School District should build there now and save the NW Grove from being cut down or diminished in size needlessly.

The consolidated case is now scheduled to be heard before King County Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle on Nov.5, 2010 at 11 AM. Save the Trees- Seattle has been working now for almost 3 years, trying to save the NW Grove.

Send Mayor McGinn an Earth Day Message to Save the Trees at Ingraham High School

Today is Earth Day. For over two years the Seattle School District has been trying to add an addition to Ingraham High School by cutting down over 50 trees in the conifer madrone grove in the above picture. What a great environmental message this sends our children. The City of Seattle has twice approved the permit for the project despite the Seattle Hearing Examiner ruling in favor of the neighbors and Save the Trees-Seattle trying to save the 70 year old 100 foot tall Douglas fir, western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees in the grove.

The Seattle Hearing Examiner ruled that the grove comprised an uncommon and rare plant association in the City of Seattle that city law says should be protected. The Seattle School District in written documents and e-mails discovered during the Hearing process has selected the open North lawn in the picture above as the building site for a future addition but refuses to move the current project to that site.  The Seattle School District has re-filed a slightly revised plan to build in the grove despite the negative ruling by the Seattle Hearing Examiner.

The latest project proposal to cut down the trees has been before the city's Department of Planning and Development since last September. It's time to quit wasting the taxpayers' dollars, ignoring the city's mandate to increase the city's tree canopy, and city law to protect our urban forest.  Cutting down mature trees for no good reason except not wanting to listen to the public is not being a good neighbor or a partner in preserving our city's environmental health and our quality of life.

Please e-mail Mayor Michael McGinn and tell him to deny the School District's current proposed building site.  Under current city law requiring the city to protect rare and uncommon plant and animal habitat, he has the authority to tell DPD to require the School District to save and protect the uncommon plant habitat on their grounds and to build elsewhere on the campus, like the open North lawn.

For Pete's sake, it's Earth Day and isn't McGinn an environmentalist?

Click on this link to send your comments to Mayor McGinn. Thanks

http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/citizen_response.htm

Ingraham High School Remand to DPD Victory for Public Process

Save the Trees-Seattle scored another victory in their battle to stop the Seattle School District from needlesssly destroying part of an uncommon plant habitat at Ingraham High. In their second appeal hearing before the Seattle Hearing Examiner, they again got a remand of the project proposal back to the Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

Earlier this year, Save the Trees-Seattle forced a remand of the Ingraham High School Addition back to the city because they had not looked at the impact of building the addition in an uncommon plant habitat, a conifer madrone forest habitat that the city law says should be protected. Specifically SMC 25.05.675 directs that "It is the city's policy to minimize or prevent the loss of wildlife habitat or other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological,and or economic value".

The Seattle School District, rather than moving the project out of the conifer madrone rare plant association, instead slightly reduced the size of the project by removing an open courtyard and resubmitted the project to the city. DPD again approved the Project despite lacking any printed rules or guidelines as to evaluating its impact on the uncommon conifer madrone forest habitat.

Save the Trees-Seattle appealed the decision to the Seattle Hearing Examiner.

Save the Trees-Seattle in prehearing motions before Seattle Hearing Examiner Anne Watanabe argued that "DPD erred because it did not issue public notice of the revised School District application or provide a public comment period on the application, as required by SMC 23.76.012."

In a quick ruling yesterday Watanabe noted that "It is undisputed that DPD did not provide notice or a public comment period on the revised application."

Anne Watanabe's ruling also noted that "The Code provides no exemption from the notice and public comment period requirements, even if the new application and resulting decision are in response to a Hearing Examiner decision."

In conclusion Watanabe stated, "While it is regrettable to postpone resolution of issues raised in these appeals, the matter must be remanded to DPD to provide the required notice and comment period. "


Below is the relevant part of Keith Scully's brief. Scully is a member of the Gendler Mann law firm and represented Save the Trees-Seattle.

"While SMC 23.76 does not spell out the requirements for public notice upon a remand and then redesign, SMC 23.76's mandate to provide "notice of application and an opportunity for public comment" to the public with the intent to "promote informed public participation in discretionary land use decisions " mandates a new public comment period on the District's new design. Were the Examiner to hold otherwise, a project proponent could submit some outlandish proposal (a heliport in a residential zone, for instance), have it remanded, and then come up with a radically different design without any public comment on the new proposal. The new design and new decision in this case mandated a new notice of appeal and filing fee: it also mandates a new public comment period so other members of the public besides the appellants can have "informed public participation" in the discretionary review of the District's new proposal"

Seattle School District Refiles Construction Proposal to Build in Rare Plant Habitat

Despite the Seattle Hearing Examiner's decision that the NW Forest area at Ingraham High School is a rare plant habitat, the Seattle School District has resubmitted plans to build there anyway. Their concession is to remove a proposed courtyard which still will force cutting down 30 old conifer trees that are 75 years old and about 100 foot tall.

The frustrating thing here is that under current law, as interpreted by Director's Rule 16-2008 on Designation of Exceptional Trees, the Seattle School District would not be able to build in this grove of trees. Unfortunately the Seattle School District, rather than bowing to current public policy, would rather just bully its way forward and cut the trees because it filed its application before the new Director's Rule went into effect.

The Seattle Hearing Examiner noted that their previous "proposal would reduce by half an uncommon habitat that the City's SEPA policy says should be protected. Given the difficulty or impossibility of replacing this amount of habitat on the site, avoidance or reduction of impacts on the grove is required if such measures are reasonable and capable of being accomplished."

The Seattle School District's refiled application is full of very questionable and subjective interpretation of why an addition in the NW Grove of trees is their best option. One of these is an evaluation by Don Gilmore, the person who oversees the BEX Program and who has the most to lose if he were to admit he made a mistake in selecting the proposed site.

Another is the Ingraham High School Principal Martin Floe who states this is the best location after having been part of a closed door design review process that excluded the public and neighbors from having input before the site was selected. He also threatened a teacher who tried to get students to save the trees by writing letters by saying this was political and not part of her job. He then rallied students to cut the trees down in a DPD public meeting held at the school and called neighbors NIMBY's. He of course forgot that neighbors are also taxpayers that foot the bill to operate and build public schools.

You can view the documents on the School District's website regarding their revised proposal. Of course, the adverse decision by the Seattle Hearing Examiner is not included in their public documents.

The City of Seattle still has the authority under SMC 25.05.675 to prohibit the Seattle School District from cutting down the trees. The problem is that the DPD approved the original design, ignoring input that the site was a rare plant habitat that city law said should be protected. The same people are now reviewing the new design. DPD has a mission to approve building projects and gives tree protection only a fleeting glance.

Diane Sugimura, DPD's Director is an appointee of Mayor Nickels. Maybe it's time for Mayor Nickel's to assert some green power and stop this unnecessary loss of trees. If the trees are cut it is under Mayor Nickel's watch. So far Nickels has talked the talk a lot but the real action of saving trees is lagging far behind. Under Nickels watch the last 8 years we have continued to lose our trees. Much more action is needed!

Seattle School District Continues Fight to Cut Down Trees at Ingraham High School

Despite a clear ruling by Seattle Hearing Examiner Ann Watanabe that the NW Forest at Ingraham High School was a rare and uncommon plant habitat and should be protected according to Seattle's environmental laws, the Seattle School District is continuing its campaign to try to cut down 72 conifer and madrone trees in the grove.

The Seattle School District, obviously with the full agreement of the Seattle School Board and Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson, are choosing continued legal action and delaying construction of the Project by thumbing their noses at the taxpayers of Seattle and now the City of Seattle. They have filed a motion for reconsideration of the Seattle Hearing Examiner's May 4, 2009 decision against the Project being built as proposed by the Seattle School district that unecessarily required cutting down the trees.

The Hearing Examiner ruled that the Ingraham High School Project

"would reduce by half an uncommon habitat that the City's SEPA policy says must be protected. Given the difficulty or impossibility of replacing this amount of habitat on the site, avoidance or reduction of impacts on the grove is required if such measures are reasonable and capable of being accomplished. In this case, DPD did not require and apparently did not evaluate whether the location or the structure footprint could be altered to avoid or minimize impacts on the northwest grove, and this was an error in light of SMC 25.05.675.N.2.

"... the use of other areas on this 28 acre campus, or at least the reduction of the proposed building footprint, would not be unreasonable or unworkable. Therefore the decision will be remanded to DPD to require additional mitigation in the form of relocation outside of the grove, or at least reduction of the addition's intrusion into the northwest grove."

Longtime Seattle School District Attorney G Richard Hill of McCullough Hill argues for the Seattle School District that the Northwest Grove is not an uncommon habitat despite correcting previous testimony presented for the Seattle School District by ESA Adolfson that ignored the presence of numerous native plant species found and documented by experts for Save the Trees - Seattle.

The Madrone conifer forest classification found at Ingraham High School comprises only about 2% of Seattle's total forested public lands. Seattle Urban Nature in their report entitled "The State of Seattle's Madrone Forest" noted that madrone forests are "rare" and "Because of their limited distribution on public lands and high ecological value, it is important to preserve and protect these areas as well as look for opportunities to acquire and protect remaining intact madrone forests". SUN states in their conclusion that "unless we begin to actively manage these forests to reduce the impact of habitat loss, invasive species and other urban pressures; we stand to lose an incredibly valuable cultural and ecological resource."

Rather than view the fact that Ingraham High School has an environmental treasure on its large 28 acre campus by virtue of the NW Forest area being a rare plant habitat that has both educational and ecological value, the School District argues that if they can't build in the grove they will continue to cut down the understory rather than restore the area. In other words if they can't have their way, don't expect them to do anything to protect the rare plant habitat. What a great example of "my way or no way" bullying to teach our students how the real world works.

During the latest Hearing Examiner process, evidence was entered into the record that pointed to the Seattle School District saying one thing to the public and another thing internally. E-mails obtained through public records from the school showed that at the same time the District said they couldn't build elsewhere on the campus, they were proceeding with planning for a future addition on the North side of the school on the open lawn area. This is one location Save the Trees argued they could build on now to save the NW Forest from being cut down.

One argument they publicly made was that a North side addition could only be a one story building. Yet in their internal e-mails they said the future addition would be a two story addition on the North side. Don Gilmore overseeing the BEX Projects confirmed under oath that it was a two story addition on the north side they were planning for. I guess he just forgot this when he wasn't under oath and was speaking to the public.

Funny thing how the Seattle School District has been posting on their BEX website the progress on the Ingraham Project but are not posting all the facts. Now that they have received an unfavorable ruling, they have stopped updating the site to include a copy of this ruling. So much for keeping the public informed about the project.

A Building Excellence Hotline that claims to be the latest construction information refers only to the Project starting construction in spring of 2009 and mentions nothing about their adverse Hearing Examiner decision,

This is despite several hundred thousand dollars being added in Oct 2008 to cover "enhanced community outreach services"- part of $650,000 approved for Ingraham, Nathan Hale and Denny Sealth BEX projects. Looks like they only want to let the community know about what's happening when it's positive for them. It sure is good to see our taxpayer dollars selectively being spent to keep the public informed of only the School District's favorable rulings.

More Details on The Ingraham High School Tree Victory by Save the Trees - Seattle

For the past 16 months a group of dedicated people working under the umbrella of Save the Trees – Seattle has been working to save the NW Forest Area at Ingraham High School. While a final resolution has not been reached, the end to the Seattle School District's intransigence is much closer.

The Seattle Hearing Examiner’s ruling released last week on Ingraham noted that the NW Forest is a rare plant habitat and that it should be protected under Seattle City environmental law. Because DPD did not consider proper conditioning for the loss of rare plant habitat, the Seattle Hearing Examiner reversed and remanded that part of DPD’s decision.

We are not in the woods yet because the Seattle School District has 21 days to appeal the decision to the King County Superior Court. And while the decision says one way to mitigate the impact is to move the project out of the NW forest area, the hearing Examiner also suggests that a smaller footprint for the project in the grove could be considered. We do not believe that the project can be further downsized but we need to be prepared to take further legal action if necessary to save the trees.

Through the support of many citizens across the city we have paid off our legal bills for getting to where we are. We are in a much stronger position now with the evidence in the Seattle Hearing Examiner's record and the decision. We will continue the legal battle if the Seattle School District does not end its misguided and senseless effort to destroy the NW Forest area at Ingraham when viable alternative building sites exist.

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We have on tap Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann ready to represent Save the Trees - Seattle. Keith successfully secured the Injunction to prevent cutting down the trees last year when the Seattle School District withdrew their construction permits for Ingraham, trying to use a loophole in city law avoid further environmental review of the project.

This loophole in city law has now been repealed by the Seattle City Council and a stronger tree protection law has been put in place that will prevent tree groves like Ingraham's NW Forest area from being cut down in the future.

The Seattle Hearing Examiner confoirmed that the NW Forest area at Ingraham is a rare plant habitat comprised of a conifer/madrone/salal association. Seattle Urban Nature has assessed that only 52 acres exist in Seattle.

The decision starts with consideration of SMC 25.05.675.N.2 which states
“a. It is the City’s policy’s policy to minimize or prevent loss of wildlife habitat and other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value. A high priority shall be given to the preservation and protection of special habitat types…
b. For projects which are proposed within an identified plant or wildlife habitat or travelway, the decision maker shall assess the extent of the adverse impacts and the need for mitigation.
c. When the decisionmaker finds that a proposed project would reduce or damage rare, uncommon, unique, or exceptional plant or wildlife habitat, wildlife travelways or habitat diversity for species (plants or animals) of substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value, the decisionmaker may condition or deny the project to mitigate its adverse impacts…
d Mitigating measures may include but are not limited to:
i. relocation of the project on the site;
ii Reducing the size or scale of the project; …”

The Seattle Hearing Examiner noted that her “review in this case is limited to whether the Director committed a clear error in her decision on the SEPA conditioning for the project.”

The Hearing Examiner stated, “Appellants have argued that DPD erred by failing to treat the NW grove as a rare or uncommon habitat under SMC 25.05.675.N.2. It is not clear whether DPD considered the grove to be rare or uncommon, but the northwest grove is an uncommon plant habitat under the SEPA policy. … The northwest grove is uncommon on account of the conifer/madrone/salal plant association which is present, and the relative scarcity of that association.

The proposal would reduce by half an uncommon habitat that the City’s SEPA policy says must be protected. Given the difficulty or impossibility of replacing this amount of habitat on the site, avoidance or reduction of impacts on the grove is required if such measures are reasonable and capable of being accomplished. In this case DPD did not evaluate whether the location or the structure footprint could be altered to avoid or minimize impacts on the NW grove, and this was an error in light of SMC 25.05.675.N.2.

The record is limited since no alternatives were required to be analyzed in the DNS, and the project was not subject to the City’s design review process, where designs are typically scrutinized for reasonableness. Appellants point to the alternatives rejected by the District as mitigation measures: building a second story on the existing LMC building; placing the addition in the north lawn area; or moving it to the south where the portables are located. Appellants also note that the planned courtyard area places the addition further into the grove”….

“… on the record here, the use of other areas on this 28 acre campus, or at least the reduction of the proposed building footprint, would not be unreasonable or unworkable. Therefore the decision will be remanded to DPD to require additional mitigation in the form of relocation outside of the grove, or at least reduction of the addition’s intrusion into the northwest grove.”

Save the Trees- Seattle believes the only reasonable and viable alternative is to relocate the building outside the grove, like on the open north lawn area. DOT Arborist Bill Ames suggested in an e-mail early on that “Tree removal in the NW corner of the site (the new addition) seems excessive and can be modified in favor of the existing trees. One option would be to site the addition nearer to the existing building and creating a walkway, as opposed to the proposed courtyard, between the new and existing building.”

The Seattle School District said this was not possible as current fire code regulations say any new building must be separated from the existing building by the width they made the courtyard. They do not want to add the building directly onto the existing building because this will block existing classroom windows.

In addition a number of the madrone trees are currently on the east side of the NW Forest area and would be cut down no matter how close the addition is to the existing structure.

The reality is there is no need to cut down any of the NW Forest. The Seattle School District asked Integrus Architecture to draw up an Ingraham Master Plan for how the school could expand in the future. They picked the north lawn site as a preferred site to put a future two story building and e-mails.

We discovered through a public records request to the Seattle School District e-mails confirming placing utilities on the North Lawn area so as to be prepared for this option. The current proposed building should be moved to this site now. The school can have both its new classrooms and save the trees at the same time.

There is of course no guarantee that the Seattle School District will take this easy solution to the problem. That is why Save the Trees –Seattle urges people to contact the Seattle School Board and Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson and urge that they end this battle now by moving the building site to the north lawn or some other location.

Here is the web page for the School Board members e-mail.

Here is Superintendent Goodloe Johnson’s email: superintendent@seattleschools.com

Steve Zemke
Chairperson
Save the Trees - Seattle

Save the Trees- Seattle Wins Hearing Examiner Ruling !

In a decisive victory for proponents opposed to cutting down 72 Douglas fir, western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees in the NW Forest area at Ingraham High School, the Seattle Hearing Examiner has ruled in favor of Save the Trees – Seattle and the neighbors.

In a decision dated last Friday and first available today, Seattle Hearing Examiner Ann Watanabe, “reversed and remanded in part” the DPD’s January decision to allow the Seattle School District to cut down the trees.

Watanabe noted that “The Northwest Grove is uncommon on account of the conifer/madrone/salal association which is present and the relative scarcity of that association”.

She adds “The proposal would reduce by half an uncommon habitat that the city’s SEPA policy says must be protected. Given the difficulty or impossibility of replacing this amount of habitat on the site, avoidance or reduction of impacts on the grove is required if such measures are reasonable or capable of being accomplished. Therefore, the decision will be remanded to DPD to require additional mitigation in the form of relocation outside of the grove, or at least reduction of the additions intrusion into the northwest grove.”

Save the Trees – Seattle has supported the upgrading of Ingraham High School and believes that the school can build the addition without cutting down any trees in the NW Forest area. We can have both trees and new classrooms.

In a master plan for Ingraham the Seattle School District has proposed building a future 2 story addition on the North Lawn area. We believe the Seattle School District can stop further delay of the Project by moving the current project to that location now. Other sites are also available like on the South side of the school where the portables are being removed.

Seattle School Closures Proposed by Superintendent Goodloe - Johnson

The Seattle School District met for almost 4 hours on Tues night discussing their preliminary Capacity Management & Building Closure Recommendations. After the meeting Superintendent Goodloe - Johnson said her power point presentation and summary of actions and appendices would be posted on the Seattle School Board website but when I got home I could find nothing. I guess it was too much to ask that it be posted right away so that parents and kids concerned about the possible fate of their schools could find out what is being proposed.

So here is the summary list of school closures proposed by the Seattle School District at the 11/25/2008 School Board Workshop.

Genesee Hill
Lowell Elementary - houses APP
Mann
TT Minor Elementary
Pinehurst - Alternative School #1
Van Asselt Elementary

Programs proposed to be relocated:

Lowell APP to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall
NOVA to Meany
Pathfinder K-8 to Arbor Heights
SBOC to Meany
Summit K-12 to Rainier Beach
Thornton Creek to ADDams
TT MinorK-3 Montessori to Leshi
Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Bailey Gatzert
Van Asselt to AAA

New Programs:

New K-5 at Decatur
Thornton Creek K-5 expands to K-8

Discontinued Programs:

African American Academy
AS #1
Arbor Heights
Meany
TT Minor

Click on this link to find the location of the schools mentioned.

The closure of Lowell Elementary which currently houses the APP Program and splitting the students in half and sending them to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall does not make a lot of sense when you look at the location of the two schools. Both Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall are further south than Lowell and not that far apart. Most APP students now come from the north end. So why move the students even further South and make it more difficult for parent involvement?

If the goal is to have a viable APP program at two schools then a geographic split would make sense, with one school in the north end and one in the south end. But that is not what is happening. And there was no talk of expanding the APP program to more kids. Splitting the program in half seems more like a way to weaken a good program than helping meet the needs of gifted students. There is strength in keeping the program intact and concentrating resources with more student interaction and teacher and parent interaction.

Rumors on School Closures

Slog has posted some possible school closings to be announced tonight at a Seattle School Board workshop tonight.

Schools mentioned as possible closures include:
TT Minor Elementary
Alternative School #1
African American Academy
Lowell Elementary

Summit is proposed to be moved to Rainier Beach and Thornton Creek Elementary moved to the Jane Addams Building which has housed Summit. There is a discussion thread on Slog.

You can also track various discussions of what is happening at these websites:

West Seattle Blog which has a post on "Arbor Heights Elementary reportedly on the school closure list" , will be live blogging the meeting tonight.

The Seattle Public School community blog will also be live blogging. They have started discussion of the issue at School Closure/Consolidation Rumors & News.

Seattle School District to Close from 3 to 9 More Schools?

Does it sound to you like the Seattle School District really has this figured out? That's quite a range - closing 3 schools up to triple that at 9 schools. It doesn't inspire me to visualize that they are on top of this. One would think the numbers would be a little more precise. Of course a projected $24 million shortfall in their budget doesn't help to calm anyone's nerves and maybe they're having trouble figuring out the numbers. Numbers have something to do with math.

As the Seattle PI notes:

"...the district's longtime enrollment imbalances -- largely a result of the district's school-choice policy -- have led to overcrowded schools in North Seattle and some underenrolled South End schools.
Even with the School Board's 2006 decision to close seven school buildings, the district has 18 percent more classroom space than it needs for its students, according to a recent audit of the state's 10 largest school districts.
District officials were already considering whether to close more schools when they learned that the district faces at least a $24 million shortfall in the 2009-10 budget. That deficit could grow to more than $44 million if the state withholds Initiative 728 money or cost-of-living increases because of the economic downturn. The initiative, aimed at reducing class size, was passed in 2000.
As a result, the School Board unanimously voted two weeks ago to authorize Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson to immediately begin the process of closing schools."

On Tuesday night, November 25, 2008 , the Seattle School District is going to announce their plans. As noted on the Seattle Public Schools website for Tuesday night:

"Preliminary recommendations presented by the Superintendent, and discussed by the Board at a School Board workshop at 6:00 p.m., John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, 2445 3rd Avenue South. This workshop will be videotaped for later streaming on our Web site."

The Seattle School District will then hold two public workshops on the preliminary sites chosen for closure and also will hold public hearings at the schools to be closed.

Thursday, December 4th, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, Auditorium 2445 - 3rd Avenue South, Seattle, Washington

Saturday, December 6th, 9:30 - 11:30 AM Filipino Community Center, Main Ballroom 5740 Martin Luther King Way, Seattle, Washington

Public hearings will be held at buildings proposed for closure on Monday, December 15, Tuesday, December 16 and Thursday, December 18. Times and locations will be advertised and posted on the Seattle School district website. This link also has other dates and meetings that are relevant to the proposed school closures and is the best place to follow the process.

The school district site also notes that "Feedback related to capacity management and building closure is welcome. Comments may be emailed to capacity@seattleschools.org, to schoolboard@seattleschools.org or mailed to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA, 98124-1165. The School Board office phone number is 206 252 0040."

There is at least one excellent community source to help track public reaction to the proposed closures and voicie your opinion. that is the Seattle Public Schools community blog

Excellent recent commentary includes "The Calm Before the Storm or Not?" by Melissa Westbrook and "Where is the Conversation?" by Charlie Maas.

Another blog that posted information on the proposed school closures is the West Seattle Blog.
As they note "...South and West Seattle have the most likelihood of finding schools on this list, since the north end has been dealing with overcrowding,"

And then there's this illuminating comment by westello on the West Seattle Blog post that rightly points out:

"...if you look at this schedule, the initial announcements are two days before Thanksgiving. The public hearings for each site are the days before the Winter Break right about the time most elementaries have their holiday concerts.
And the final list is to be announced right after the Winter Break. This is a lot to absorb and carry during Thanksgiving and the holidays. I know the district
didn’t mean to be cruel but the timing is harsh.
I appreciate the West Seattle blog keeping up with this but I think between the timing of the meetings and the economic realities overwhelming many, that this will not be on many people’s radar."

Why is it again and again that the public seems to be at the tail end of each current crisis in the Seattle School District's process? Doing all of this during the holiday season seems the least likely time to engage the public. But maybe that's part of their plan.

Ingraham HS Stages Pep Rally to Cut Down Trees

On Tuesday night at Ingraham High School in North Seattle, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) held a public meeting on the Ingraham construction project. As you know, Save the Trees – Seattle and others in the community are opposed to the Seattle School District cutting down 68 trees in a grove on the west side of the High School when other locations exist on the campus where the addition can be built without cutting down any large trees.

The trees to be cut are the 100 foot tall 75 year old Douglas fir, western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees in the distance in the picture. The grassy area in the foreground is one place Save the Trees - Seattle says the new addition could be built, saving any large trees from needing to be cut down. The Ingraham High School master plan actually says this open lawn area is where a future addition could be built an Ingraham. Why not now?

Many neighbors and others turned out to support saving the tree grove and to urge that the project be moved. There was also a very large contingent of vocal students and parents and teachers frustrated by their long standing grievance of classes being held in rundown mold infested portables for too many years.

The Principal at Ingraham stated that he made a concerted effort to turn out students and parents and teachers to support the project. With his encouragement the students basically staged a pep rally for the project. This was not unexpected considering what they have had to put up with in a substandard learning environment.

Those opposed to needlessly cutting down the trees on a campus, which at 28 acres is the largest in the Seattle School District, sympathized with the frustration of the students and parents and teachers who for too many years have been forced to take classes in substandard portables that are in terrible shape and have mold. Teachers and students complained of getting sick. Some of the portables house special needs students but do not have running water or bathrooms.

The Seattle School District has let the situation get out of control and is now trying to make the neighbors the villains for their negligence. The Seattle School District’s approach has been to deny they have any responsibility for delaying the project and blame neighbors who love trees more than students as what is preventing the project from going forward

But Save the Trees – Seattle and the neighbors support the long overdue upgrading of the classrooms. We are not, however, the villains just because we also don’t want to needlessly destroy a unique urban forest when viable alternatives exist on the campus for building elsewhere. One location we suggested was the North lawn area which Ingraham actually picked as the site if a future addition was to be built after the current project. It is rather ironic that the Ingraham Master Plan produced as part of this project can propose building on this North lawn location in the future but it is somehow not possible to build there now and spare the grove of trees. They are serious enough about retaining the North lawn area for a future addition that in the current proposal it is the only area on campus where they do not propose planting trees.

Two wrongs do not make a right. Not upgrading or maintaining the school in a responsible way for students and teachers in the past and proposing to cut down 68 Douglas fir, Western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees to now do the upgrade is only compounding the past mistakes by avoiding responsible stewardship of both our schools and our natural urban habitat.

The Principal testified that he went around to different student groups to recruit them to come to the public meeting to support the project as is. It is very hard for any students to take on the Principal publicly and say they opposed cutting down the trees. I have spoken with both students and teachers who opposed cutting down the trees. At least one teacher was told to stop any efforts to get students to oppose cutting down the trees because that was political and not education. The teacher felt threatened and that her job was at stake.

The Principal is the authority figure at the school. Student recommendations for college frequently come from the Principal. Is it any wonder that teachers and students who oppose cutting down the trees might feel intimidated or threatened if they spoke out. I remember when I contacted Martin Floe about our arborist looking at the trees he personally told me to not talk to the students. I guess he was afraid of them hearing anything contrary to his position. So much for an open dialogue at Ingraham.

What Floe has forgotten is that he is acting in a capacity of public trustee for a public school funded by taxpayer dollars. He has tried to characterize the neighbors as NIMBY’s which means he doesn’t even understand the term. We are not opposed to renovating the school and in fact believe it is long overdue. I am aware of no one in our group or neighbors and other tree advocates that are opposed to the renovation. We voted for the BEX bond issue. Our tax dollars are paying for the project and we have the right to express our views as much as anyone else.

Unfortunately the process set up by Martin Floe excluded the community and neighbors from the initial selection of the site and design of the project. Meetings of the School Design Team were held in secret with a few parents and teachers personally selected by Martin Floe. The public’s only chance to comment on the proposed project was earlier this year after the building site had been chosen and the design done. And we were then told we could not comment on the site anymore since that decision was already made.

At last night’s meeting, as I publicly stated, I do not think anyone there opposed the decaying portables being torn down and replaced with modern classrooms. Unfortunately it was obvious that the only option given to students and others to get new classrooms was to build in the tree grove. And blame the neighbors, rather than the School District for its inadequate review and closed review process, for preventing them from getting new classrooms.

The issue at this point is a legal one, whether or not the project is in compliance with city and state SEPA laws. We are pursing the legal process afforded the public to review the project.

The meeting was part of the public process for approval of land use permits for building in the City of Seattle and is proceeding on the normal timetable, except for the delay caused by the School District withdrawing their permit application in August in an attempt to just cut the trees down. The King County Superior Court issued an injunction to stop the trees from being cut down without any review by the City of Seattle. The City of Seattle is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks. The City does have the authority under the city’s SEPA laws to further mitigate the project, including moving it to save the tree grove. We will let you know what happens.

Seattle School District Refiles Application to Build Ingraham High School Addition in Tree Grove

Your comments now can help save the trees at Ingraham High School in North Seattle from the chainsaw!

If you have not yet heard, the Seattle School District has refilled their application to proceed ahead with their construction project at Ingraham High School. Here is the permit website: http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=3009549.

Comments need to be sent by Nov. 13, 2008!!! (note -deadline was extended)

The Seattle School District has filed to build the project in the same location as before – in the grove of 100 foot tall, 75 year old Douglas fir, Pacific madrone and western red cedar trees on the West side of the High School. This will result in the cutting down of 68 of the trees.

As you may remember, Save the Trees - Seattle was successful in temporarily stopping the Seattle School District from cutting down the trees in August after the District withdrew their permits. But the Injunction was only temporary and the school district has refiled with the Seattle Department of Planning and Development to go ahead with the Project.

The Judge at the time ruled that it was premature to file our appeal of the DNS (Determination of Non-Significance) on the Environmental checklist issued by the Seattle School District, even though the Seattle School District said we had to file then or lose our right to appeal.

Judge John Erlick of the King County Superior Court noted that the City of Seattle had the power to alter the project or put additional conditions on it and until the city approved the permit, the final project could be altered by the city. The Judge felt it was premature to rule on the merits of the case.

This is of course the hope of those opposing the trees being cut down and why your comments to the city are so important. The city has the option of saying the environmental impacts are significant in the proposed location that results in so many trees being cut down and ask the Seattle School District to move the project to another location.

Right now the Project has only been reviewed within the Seattle School District. Now it is the City of Seattle’s turn to review the Project for compliance with city laws, including our land use and environmental and SEPA laws. This is your opportunity to comment on the project and it is important that as many people as possible respond and urge the city to not approve the Seattle School District’s plan to cut the trees down. Comments must be sent by Nov. 13, 2008.

The fact is that there are other locations at Ingraham High School that the addition can be built on that do not require that any large trees be cut down, including the open lawn area on the North side of the school. They do not need to cut the trees down. Neighbors support the renovation which is to replace decaying portables at the school but not in the tree grove. We can have both education and trees on the Ingraham campus, which at 28 acres is the largest public high school campus in Seattle.

Important points to make to help save the trees:

1. Seattle’s latest Comprehensive Plan in the Environment Element states that the city should “strive to protect and retain certain trees and groups of trees that enhance Seattle’s historical, cultural, environmental and aesthetic values" and “work to achieve a sustainable urban forest that contains a diverse mix of tree species and ages in order to use the forest’s abilities to reduce storm water runoff and pollution, absorb air pollutants, provide wildlife habitat, absorb carbon dioxide, provide shade, stabilize soil, and increase property values.”

2. In addition the Comprehensive Plan’s policy is “to strive to achieve no net loss of tree canopy coverage starting in 2008, and strive to increase tree canopy coverage by 1% per year up to a total of 40 percent, to reduce storm runoff, absorb air pollutants, reduce noise, stabilize soil, provide habitat and mitigate the heat island effect of developed areas.” Seattle’s urban tree canopy has gone from 40% in 1972 to 18% today.

3. The west grove of trees at Ingraham HS was acknowledged by the Hearing Examiner for the Seattle School District to be a de facto park area used by students and neighbors for passive recreation and would be lost if the trees are cut.

4. SMC 25.05.675 N Plants and animals. City SEPA law states that it is “the City’s policy to minimize or prevent the loss of wildlife habitat and other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value. A high priority shall be given to preservation and protection of special habitat types… A high priority shall also be given to meeting the needs of state and federal threatened, endangered and sensitive species of both plants and animals.”

5. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources through its Natural Heritage Program has classified the habitat in the west grove as a rare plant community in King County. The plant association includes Douglas fir, Pacific Madrone and salal. Pacific madrone trees are in decline in the region and need to be protected.

6. The band-tailed pigeon, which feeds on the fruit of the madrone tree, and has been seen in the Ingraham neighborhood, has been listed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a priority species. “Priority species require protective measures for their survival due to their population status, sensitivity to habitat alteration ….”, according to the Department.

7. The Seattle City Council’s recently passed tree grove resolution stated that , “Section 25.05.675(N) of the Seattle Municipal Code allows for preservation of trees as mitigation when a project would reduce or damage rare, uncommon, unique or exceptional plant or wildlife habitat, wildlife travel ways, or habitat diversity for species of substantial aesthetic, education, ecological or economic value”

8. The Seattle School District’s DNS (Determination of Non-significance) is not a mitigated DNS. This means they are under no obligation to do anything they say they will do if they cut the trees – like plant more trees or protect the east grove of trees. The Seattle School District has a terrible record at Ingraham of trees dying that they previously planted.

9. Removing the trees creates drainage problems because the trees help control runoff and absorb water.

These are some points you can make but please write up in your own words your personal comments. Add any other reasons that you believe as to why the trees should be saved.

You can send comments 3 different ways:

1. Click on this link and you can just fill in your comments right now and send them in for the project. http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/LUIB/CommentEmail.aspx?BID=358&NID=8971&P=3009549&D=10/16/2008

2. Send comments to: Tamara.Garrett@seattle.gov

3. Send comments to:

DPD/Attention Tamara Garrett
700 5th Avenue, Suite 2000
PO Box 34019
Seattle, WA 98124

Please include your name and address so you can be kept updated on the project, and be notified when there is a public meeting.Note the comments are on Permit Application #3009549 on the Ingraham High School Renovation.

Please send a blind copy - bcc to me at stevezemke@msn.com so that we can track the response and input we are getting if you send by separate e-mail and don't use the form in the link above.

Even a few short sentences are helpful. We need to show strong public support from as many people as possible for saving the trees and moving the addition to another site, like the North lawn area at Ingraham.

The DPD on their website gives the following suggestions for making comments:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Notices/Public_Comment/How_To_Comment/default.asp#Tips Tips on Making Effective CommentsAlthough the quantity of letters DPD receives regarding land use activities may indicate the extent of neighborhood or agency interest, it is the relevance of the comments—the information they contain—that will most affect a project’s outcome. Here are some tips on making your comments effective:

Briefly explain who you are and why you are interested in the project.
State your concerns clearly and succinctly using objective language.
Comment only on issues relevant to the decision being made.
State opinions and preferences, ask questions, and propose alternative solutions to particular issues. State informed opinions and, where possible, include data to support your opinion.
Review the project’s technical reports or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) data, comment on conclusions, assumptions and the data collecting methods.
Keep focused on your objective. You want DPD to hear your concerns and be compelled enough to investigate further.
Identify the topics you want to include in your letter and how you want to organize them.
Ask for studies that you think are important but have not been provided.
If the proposed project is subject to SEPA and you think it will have significant environmental impact, request that an EIS be prepared.
Provide your own information.
Identify project features that you like and think should not be changed.
Provide any comments about the project’s compliance with the Land Use Code.
Ask to be added to the project mailing list and request a copy of the notice of decision. (Copies are sent via U.S. mail, s o please provide your mailing address when making request

For reference:

Here is the environmental checklist for the project:
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/facilities/BEXIII/Ingraham/2nd_revision_IngrahamSEPAChecklist.pdf
Here is the environmental policies and SEPA laws for Seattle:
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=25.05&s2=&S3=&Sect4=AND&l=20&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect3=PLURON&Sect5=CODE1&d=CODE&p=1&u=/%7Epublic/code1.htm&r=1&Sect6=HITOFF&f=G

see also

www.MajorityRules.org/blog - numerous posts
http://saveingrahamstrees.info/About_Us.html
http://www.saveseattlestrees.org/Ingraham.htm

Judge halts Tree Cutting near Ingraham High School - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008112745_trees14m.html

Judge – Tree Cutting at Ingraham High needs city approval - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008138212_trees26m.html

Thanks for your help!

Steve Zemke
Save the Trees – Seattle
stevezemke@msn.com
206-366-0811

Please call if you have questions.

Please forward this link to others who might respond. Thanks

PS. Save the Trees - Seattle still owes about $4000 to their attorneys. If you can help with a contribution it would be appreciated. Checks can be made out to “Save the Trees – Seattle” and sent to Save the Trees – Seattle, c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133

Please note revised date for sending in comments. The current updated date is by Nov. 13, 2008.

Seattle Public School Violates Court Injunction!

On Monday Judge Erlick of the King County Superior Court ruled on behalf of the plaintiffs Save the Trees – Seattle and put in place an Injunction to prevent the Seattle School District from cutting the trees or destroying the habitat in the grove of trees on the West side of Ingraham High School. This afternoon, a contractor for the Seattle School District drove into the center of the grove and commenced putting up another fence in the proposed construction area. Using an air hammer the contractor started driving steel posts into the ground.

This action was in direct violation of Judge Erlick’s ruling that the trees and habitat were to be preserved and protected while the Seattle School District resubmitted its construction permit application to the City of Seattle. Steve Zemke of Save the Trees – Seattle called the police and contacted their attorney, Keith Scully, of Gendler and Mann, who contacted Ron English, Attorney for the Seattle School District who contacted MidMountain Contractors who called their employee to stop any further work.

The truck was driven out of the grove a short while later. The call to the police was cancelled as they had not yet shown up. Tree Solutions and other consultants have advised the Seattle School District to keep trucks out of the trees because they damage the tree roots and affect the survivability of the trees. The Seattle School District continues to ignore this advice and the court order prohibiting damage to the tree grove until the environmental review process is completed.

Why was the Seattle School District not able to obey the court order and inform all contractors of the Injunction prohibiting any activities which would harm or destroy the trees or the habitat of the groove? The Project manager at Ingraham is John McWilliams and he should be held responsible along with Don Gilmore who is in charge of the BEX program.

John McWilliams and Don Gilmore were both present in Judge Erlick’s courtroom on Monday when Judge Erlick ruled. Did they not understand what the Judge said? As Project Manager for the Ingraham Project isn’t McWilliams responsible for what the contractors do? Or is this just going to be called another one of those “mistakes” or “miscommunications” and brushed aside?

Contactors working at Denny Sealth in West Seattle recently cut down trees and bulldozed an area along Longfellow Creek on the Sealth campus at the same time an appeal was underway before a Seattle School District Hearing Examiner. This action destroying that habitat made that part of the appeal mute and resulted in the Hearing Examiner saying the School District needed to up the loss of trees there from 25 to 35 to reflect that action. The actual result was contrary to a statement by Seattle School Board member Peter Maier who at the time was seen on television saying that all that happened was that a few trees were nicked.

Save the Trees! Wins Injunction to Halt Tree Cutting

Save the Trees was granted an Injunction today to prevent the Seattle School District from cutting down the trees at Ingraham High School. The battle is not over, but Judge Erlick of the King County Superior went further than expected and granted an Injunction prohibiting the Seattle School District from cutting down the trees until after the Seattle MUP process is complete.

Judge Erlick ruled that the appellants met all the tests required for an Injunction and that the Seattle School District, by withdrawing their permits for construction, was putting the cart before the horse. He ruled that the School District first had to comply with the City of Seattle’s environmental review through the MUP process and that it was premature to rule on the issue until after that process was complete because there was no way of knowing what conditions the city might place on the project.

All in all Judge Erlick saw through the Seattle School District’s attempt to use a loophole to evade and avoid further environmental review and just cut the trees down. He also ruled against the Seattle School District’s attempt to claim Save the Trees legal appeal was adding to the cost of the project, noting it would only take 2 days to cut the trees down according to the School District. The School District was trying to require that Save the Trees post a $200,000 bond but the Judge said no. The $7500 bond is still in effect however.

The Seattle School District is planning to petition to throw the case out, claiming that Save the Trees filed their appeal in the wrong court. They are also going to raise a bizarre claim that Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson was not served notice of the lawsuit. A signed statement was submitted to the Court by Goodloe–Johnson. To answer this charge Keith Scully, the attorney for Save the Trees presented to the Court a signed document by the process server that Goodloe- Johnson refused to be served. Her representative, the legal department was served instead.

It seems the “new” Superintendent is just another one of the old boy’s network in the Seattle Public Schools, willing to join in their charade and mockery and disdain for the public process. What a mockery they are making of public involvement, openness and following the spirit of the law. She has joined with the Seattle School Board in trying to find loopholes in the law and avoid environmental review by the City and Courts of the Ingraham High School renovation project. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

To date the only environmental review done was done within the Seattle School District. And the Seattle School District has shown their true lack of respect for environmental and land use law through their recent actions and intent to just cut the trees down and end debate.

The Seattle School District is trying to make the issue one of trees versus education. This is not the case. The Seattle School District could easily move the project to the North side of Ingraham High School where an open lawn area now exists. No large trees would have to be cut down as a result. The school can have both trees and new classrooms.

A critical next step is to try to get passed a long overdue updated Seattle tree preservation ordinance to try to close the loopholes being used by the School Board and developers to get around protecting plant and animal habitat and trees and tree groves in Seattle.

Save the Trees has legal bills to pay along their success. Please show you support for their successful but continuing battle with the Seattle School District by contributing to help pay their legal bills. They owe about $4000 and unfortunately will owe more, as they have to go back to court to defend against the School District’s continuing attempts to throw out the case.

Make checks out to Save the Trees, c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133

Thanks for your help.

And take a moment to celebrate the success of Save the Trees!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008137606_webtrees25m.html

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/environment/archives/147052.asp

Save the Trees! in Court Seeking Preliminary Injunction

A hearing is scheduled for 2:00 PM Monday, August 25, 2008 before Judge Erlick of the King County Superior Court, 516 Third Ave, Seattle in Rm W 10-60 on the Save the Trees Motion for a Preliminary Injunction and Motion to Reduce Bond.

Save the Trees is back in court today on their motion for a Preliminary Injunction to prevent the Seattle School District from cutting down 68 Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar and Pacific madrone trees on the west side of Ingraham High School before a hearing can be held in King County Superior Court to resolve the environmental impacts of the project. The temporary restraining order expires today, which means the Seattle School District could again try to cut the trees down tomorrow unless the Preliminary Injunction is granted.

As Save the Trees Attorney Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann notes in the petition to the Superior Court,

“The District’s Decision to withdraw its MUP and other permit applications
has dramatically altered the factual picture since the Hearing Examiner made her
decision. As the District has gone to great pains to demonstrate, the District
has not applied for permits…It can cut the trees without any city permits or
even finalizing construction plans. It is not bound to submit the proposal as
described to the Hearing Examiner to the City. There is thus no guarantee that
any mitigation will actually be constructed once the trees are gone, let alone
enough to compensate for the massive increase in untreated stormwater to Haller
Lake, increase in greenhouse emissions, removal of habitat, and other impacts
that will result from the District’s clearcut. Unlike most land use cases, where
the court reviews both the permits and the associated SEPA review, the District
in this matter is attempting to manipulate the City of Seattle’s review process
by cutting trees before finalizing permit plans. The necessary consequence to
the District of this course of action is that they cannot rely on hypothetical
mitigation measures to justify the determination of non-significance: unlike the
facts presented to the Hearing Examiner, the only action on the table at this
time is clear-cutting a rare collection of trees and other native species”

The Ingraham Tree Grove is comprised of a plant habitat that has been identified by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a rare plant community in King County. The area has also functioned as a school and community park and has been used by Ingraham High School biology and ecology classes for education purposes. While the Seattle City Council and Mayor Nickels are urging the preservation of existing trees and adding canopy to the city, the Seattle School District is going in the opposite direction.

The issue at Ingraham High School is not one of education versus trees. We can have both trees and education. The Seattle School District can build the proposed addition on the open lawn area on the North side of the School without cutting down any large trees. This is a location they have already identified and selected as a future building site in the Ingraham Master Plan. Save the Trees supports the renovation of Ingraham High School and building the new addition on the North side of the school.

By having withdrawn their construction permits and trying to just cut the grove of trees down, the Seattle School District is trying to avoid any consideration of Washington State and Seattle environmental and land use laws. They are saying the issues will be settled by the chain saw not the rule of law.

To date the environmental issues have only been evaluated by the Seattle School District which obviously has a conflict of interest. The appeal before a hearing examiner was before a hearing examiner hired by the Seattle School District. The issues have yet to reach the King County Superior Court.

The Seattle School District is playing the school yard bully and trying to prevent the normal process by which citizen’s have a right to seek redress from actions or decisions of their government which they think are wrong.

Ingraham Tree Grove Given Temporary Stay of Execution

Save the Trees!

Save the Trees!, representing the neighbors and community around Ingraham High School, was granted a temporary restraining order on August 13, 2008 to halt the cutting of 68 trees in the West Grove. This action became necessary when the Seattle School District withdrew their construction permits, trying to avoid further environmental review of their project by the City of Seattle. They believed they could then just cut down the trees and then reapply for a new permit.

The Seattle School District wanted to prevent further judicial review by those who believe the trees don’t have to be cut. Save the Trees position is that the District can build the project on the open lawn area on the North side of the school without cutting down any large trees. We can have both the educational benefits of a renovated school and the environmental benefits of a healthy urban forest and park. It is not an either or situation but a choice to have both.

Save the Trees! needs to go back to court on August 25, 2008 to get a preliminary injunction to stop the tree cutting while the environmental appeal of the Seattle School District’s proposal is being heard in the King County Superior Court. The August 25, 2008 hearing will again be before Judge Erlickin the King County Superior Court and will start at 2 PM.

Save the Trees! needs your help to continue their battle. Neighbors and other supporters of Save the Trees in Seattle have already helped raise a $7500 bond or the trees would have been cut down. Now Save the Trees needs to raise another $25,000 to continue the legal battle.

If you want to see both trees and education coexist in our neighborhood and city, please copy the coupon below and send a generous check to Save the Trees!. Please include your e-mail so you we can keep you updated. Thanks for helping!

Send your check today to:

Save the Trees!
c/o Steve Zemke,
2131 N 132nd St,
Seattle, WA 98133

P.S. Please forward this post to your friends. The trees at Ingraham represent in a nutshell the crisis facing Seattle’s urban forests. If we can’t save the trees at Ingraham, what tree in Seattle is safe from the chainsaw? Seattle’s urban tree canopy has gone from 40% in 1972 to only 18% today. It’s time to preserve the remaining trees in our city, not keep cutting them down!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes we can have both education and trees at Ingraham High School! Here is my check to help pay for the legal battle to save the trees in the West Grove from the chainsaws and move the proposed addition to the North Lawn area.

I can help with [] $1000 [] $500 [] $250 [] $100 [] $50 [] $25 [] other $_______

Name __________________________________________ Phone (h) _______

Address ________________________________________ (w) __________

City _______________________State ______Zip _______ (cell) __________

e-mail (print clearly)___________________________________________

Send checks to Save the Trees!, c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133
206-366-0811
Copy this coupon and send with your check. Thanks
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Recent news articles and blogs writing about saving the Ingraham trees:

Judge prohibits School District from cutting Ingraham High trees

Judge halts tree cutting near Ingraham High School

http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/

http://saveingrahamstrees.info/

http://smarterneighbors.com/

Save the Trees Wins Temporary Restraining Order but, Needs $7500 to post a bond.

Special Appeal for fundraising Help from Save the Trees

Save the Trees won a two week TRO to stop the logging by the Seattle School District at Ingraham High School this Friday.This allows the case to be heard. Unfortunately the judge also put a financial burden on Save the Trees.

Things are moving forward having scored this underdog victory.

Save the trees won the Temporary Restraining Order when Judge Erlick agreed that the case would be mute if the trees are cut down. He also turned down the School District’s request for a $400,000 bond with the school district arguing that was the inflation cost of not being able to build the project. The Judge noted that with no MUP application pending and no timeline they had no project.

The Judge did somewhat buy the Seattle School District's bogus contract that the School District signed with Weiss Trees to be used against Save the Trees. The Seattle School District signed a contract that paid them $33,000 for the trees with a penalty of $10,000 to $17,000 if the trees aren’t cut on Friday. It’s a contract Save the Tree's Attorney Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann argued that no businessman would sign such onerous terms, noting that the issue of a pending lawsuit would also have prevented the trees being cut down.

Keith Scully argued well and got an initial $20,000 bond reduced to $7500. If Save the Trees does not post the bond by tomorrow they can’t stop the trees being cut down. If they lose the case they also lose the bond money. Some deal right.

As of the end of Wednesday night Save the Trees has received pledges of over 2/3 of the needed bond money - some $5500 of the $7500 needed.

Anyone reading this can help with a contribution to Save the Trees to come up with the bond money by e-mailing Steve Zemke at stevezemke@msn.com and pledge what you can send to help cover the rest of the bond. You can even deliver your pledge to Steve's house Thursday. His address is 2131 N 132nd St one block off of Meridian N.

You can also call Steve at 206-366-0811 to make or leave a pledge. If he gets the money pledged and put in the mail, Save the Trees can cover the bond deadline.

But it is up to you. If you want Save the Trees to go forward, now is the time for you to step forward. If you don't like the extortion tactics the Seattle School District is doing, respond with a pledge. They are trying to intimidate Save the Trees and neighbors to go away. This is all planned out on their part to crush Save the Trees and their right to judicial review. But we can fight back.

So dig deep and let Steve know what you can help with. Thanks

Send checks to:
Save the Trees
c/o Steve Zemke
2131 N 132nd St
Seattle, Wa98133

Judge blocks tree-cutting at Ingraham
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008111148_webtrees13m.html

Judge Prohibits School District from cutting Ingraham High Trees
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/374851_trees14.html

Seattle School District Rev's Up Chainsaws, Save the Tress Files for TRO

A hearing has just been scheduled for 3:00 PM today Wed, August 12, before Judge Erlick of the Superior Court in Rm W 10-60 on the Save the Trees Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the trees at Ingraham High School from being cut down this Friday.

The Seattle School District is further trying to stifle legitimate review of their decisions by asking that a bond of $10,000 be posted because they signed a contact with Weiss Tree Company that money be paid if the trees aren’t cut on Friday. Weiss would pay the Seattle School District $33,000 for the trees.

This contract as viewed by citizens would appear to have been written and signed by the School District to be an impediment to Save the Trees or any other group filing any legitimate appeal of their actions. In addition the School District is asking for a bond of $400,000 for inflation costs for the delay of a project that they just withdrew the building permits on from the city review process.

The TRO is being requested to halt the Seattle School District from cutting down 68 Douglas fir, Western Red Cedar and Pacific madrone trees on the west side of Ingraham High School before a hearing can be held in Superior Court to resolve the environmental impacts of the project.

Among other things the tree grove is comprised of a plant habitat that is identified by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as a rare plant community in King County. The area has also functioned as a school and community park and has been used by Ingraham High School biology and ecology classes for education purposes.

By having withdrawn their construction permits and trying to just cut the grove of trees down, the Seattle School District is trying to avoid any consideration of Washington State and Seattle environmental and land use laws. They are saying the issues will be settled by the chain saw not the rule of law. To date the environmental issues have only been evaluated by the Seattle School District which obviously has a conflict of interest. The appeal before a hearing examiner was before a hearing examiner hired by the Seattle School District. The issues have yet to reach the Superior Court. The Seattle School District is playing the school yard bully and trying to prevent the normal process by which citizen’s have a right to seek redress from actions or decisions of their government which they think are wrong.




Press Advisory
Save the Trees
For More Information Contact:
Steve Zemke
206-999-6095 (cell)
206-366-0811 (home)

Breaking News – Press Advisory

The Seattle School District has just informed Keith Scully, the attorney for Save the Trees, that they will not halt their decision to cut down the trees at Ingraham High School while the environmental issues are being reviewed by the King County Superior Court. A hearing has been set for Sept 2, 2008 but the Seattle School District intends to ignore it and proceed with cutting down the trees this Friday, August 15, 2008.

Keith Scully will be filing a request for a temporary restraining order before the King County Superior Court at 516 Third Ave in Seattle before the Ex Parte division at 11:30 this morning

You can check at the front desk for the location of the hearing.

The Seattle School Board obviously decided last night in their special executive session to ignore the unresolved legal issues and also the position of Mayor Nickels, the Seattle City Council, many Seattle citizens and neighbors opposing cutting down the trees at Ingraham. The School District is opposing letting this issue be resolved on its merits through a court of law and has decided instead to use the chain saw to just get its way!

Lawsuit Filed by Save the Trees against Seattle School District

For Immediate release:
August 12, 2008
Save the Trees Press Release
For More Information Contact:
Steve Zemke
stevezemke@msn.com
206-366-0811


Save the Trees has filed a lawsuit with the King County Superior Court against the Seattle Public School’s proposal to cut down 68 old evergreen trees at Ingraham High School without adequate environmental review.

The King County Court has assigned the case a hearing date of Sept 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 PM. The Case number is 08-2-26887-0SEA. The Case Caption is Save the Trees, et.al. v. Seattle School District No.1, State of Washington.

The lawsuit alleges that the Seattle School District has violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), RCW 43.21C and SEPA Rules, WAC 197-11, by deciding to proceed with the Ingraham High School Renovation, Demolition and New Construction Project without adequate environmental review.

Plaintiffs have exhausted all remedies within the Seattle School District including appealing the project through a Seattle Public Schools hearing examiner. In order to avoid further city review of the proposed project, the Seattle School District said last Wednesday that “the District has withdrawn their pending application for a Master Use Permit for the projects, as well as the building permit application and grading permit application”

By this evading of further review by the city as to land use and environmental laws the school district hoped to avoid review of whether building a new addition at Ingraham High School in a large grove of 75 year old, 100 feet tall would violate city environmental laws.

Seattle environmental law under SMC25.05.67N2a states “It is the cities policy to minimize or prevent the loss of wildlife habitat and other vegetation which have substantial aesthetic, educational, ecological and/or economic value.”

Overlooked by the Seattle School District and discovered by the plaintiffs during their review of the project was that the grove of 130 Douglas fir, Madrone and western red cedar trees on the west side of Ingraham High School was a unique environmental habitat. Unknown by the Seattle School District was the fact that the Washington State Department of Natural Resources under their Natural Heritage Program had classified the plant habitat actually present at Ingraham as a rare plant community in King County.

The Seattle School District also had not acknowledged the fact that the tree grove was used as a school and neighborhood park. These and other facts will be part of the appeal by Save the Trees.

Meanwhile the question remains as to whether the Seattle School District will agree to put their proposed tree cutting and removal scheduled on August 15th and 16th on hold.

The School District has incurred tremendous public outrage from both Seattle public officials and citizens for this blatant attempt to get around existing land use and environmental laws.

The Seattle School Board has called a special executive committee meeting for this evening (Tuesday August 12, 2008) from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM to discuss their response to the law suit.

It is hoped by Save the Trees that the Seattle School District will withdraw their threat of cutting down the trees this Friday and Saturday and allow the environmental review process to proceed as normal and delay any action to cut the trees until the case is properly reviewed by the Courts.

Ron English, an attorney for the Seattle School District has written an e-mail to Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann who is representing the plaintiffs, noting that he did not have the authority to stop the tree cutting and that the decision was up to the School Board. That is one of the issues they are discussing tonight.

If the Seattle School District decides not to cancel the tree cutting, Ron English said that the plaintiffs would have time to go to King County Superior Court to request a restraining order as the District had no intent of cutting the trees down before Friday.

Of course with the construction permits withdrawn, the Seattle School Board also has the option of dropping the proposal to build the addition in the grove of trees and move it to another site, like the open lawn area on the North side of the school.

This would remove any further delay from the project, as litigation regarding the trees is expected to take 6 months or more and the School District has no certainty they would prevail with a full review of the project and alternatives if the Court rules an EIS is needed.



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Urgent Update -Help Needed to Save the Trees at Ingraham High School -

It’s been a hectic couple of day here in Seattle battling to save the old trees at Ingraham High School! A somewhat ordinary environmental review process has turned into a battle to stop the chain saws as the Seattle School District has resorted to dirty developer tactics and an all out attempt to bully their way over the public by just cutting down the trees. On Thursday they withdrew their building permit applications with the City of Seattle, claiming that without the pending land use applications they could just cut down the trees. Neighbors and Seattle be damned they said! The School District said they plan to cut down the trees on August 15th and 16th .

Once the trees are cut down the Seattle School District plans to resubmit its plans to again add the building addition where the trees once were. Oh and don't despair. They said you'll be able to comment on their proposal again at that time. But this time there won't be any trees in the way for angry neighbors and tree lovers and park lovers to complain about losing.

We urgently need the help of the public to stop them. This blatant evasion of the normal planning process is outrageous and a callous attempt to avoid environmental protection and land use laws. One might expect such arrogant bullying from a private developer but the Seattle Public Schools are owned by the taxpayers. Its our money and our schools. Please help now to save the trees at Ingraham.

Please note: It’s not a question of trees versus school renovation. It never has been. Save the Trees supports replacing the decaying portables with new classrooms. We support putting the new addition on the North side of the school on an open lawn area where no large trees have to be cut down. The Seattle School District, without seeking public input from neighbors and the community, chose to build the addition in a grove of 75 year old 100 foot tall Douglas fir, Pacific madrone and western red cedar trees. Some 68 trees would be unnecessarily cut down. They have long been are a neighborhood park. They also constitute a rare plant community in King County under the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program.

You can read our press release here on MajorityRulesBlog: http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2008/08/seattle-school-district-seeks-to-avoid.html

There has been major coverage in both the print and broadcast media.

In the Seattle Times by Susan Gilmore http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008101880_ingraham09m.html

And a post by Lisa Stiffler. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/environment/archives/145622.asp

A link to the KOMO site http://www.komonews.com/news/26442089.html

A link to the King 5 news story is here: http://www.king5.com/education/stories/NW_080808WAB_seattle_school_tree_controversy_TP.2a35ef0b.html#

Great Blog Post - http://smarterneighbors.com/2008/08/09/seattle-school-districts-bad-faith-decision-to-fell-trees-at-ingraham-high-angering-neighbors-and-mayor-nickels/

Also you can find a series of blog posts on the Ingraham battle as it has evolved over the last several months at www.MajorityRules.org/blog


We need people to email or call Seattle City Council members, the Mayor’s office and Seattle School Board and the Seattle School’s Superintendent expressing outrage at the Seattle School District’s decision to evade environmental scrutiny by a developer’s loophole.

Urge the School District and Superintendent to continue the environmental review process in the Courts or just move the proposed addition to the North side of Ingraham High School where they could build without cutting down any large trees. Urge specifically they not cut down the trees.

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/index.dxml

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/sup/index.dxml

Urge the Seattle City Council and Mayor to pass now a strong tree preservation ordinance to close this and other loopholes and give protection to saving and expanding tree cover in the city! Urge action now, not next year. If you are outraged by this slimy trick to evade environmental review tell the city council and mayor to end these developer loopholes.

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/contact.html

http://www.seattle.gov/council/councilcontact.html


Send a contribution made out to Save the Trees! to help pay legal expenses. Initial costs are several thousand dollars. More costs are anticipated if the School District digs in further. Send as generous a check as you can to “Save the Trees!” c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133 206-366-0811