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Save Shoreline Trees delivers petition with 1,137 signatures asking council to strengthen private-tree protections
Summary
Representatives of Save Shoreline Trees presented a petition signed by 1,137 residents urging the City of Shoreline to preserve existing healthy trees, require comparable canopy replacement for trees removed on private and public land, and reflect those goals in the city’s tree-code update.
Representatives of Save Shoreline Trees presented a petition to the Shoreline City Council during public comment, delivering 1,137 signatures and urging the city to protect existing healthy trees and require equivalent canopy replacement when trees are removed on private and public land.
Petition speakers said signature gathering over the past five months showed broad community support. Janelle Temerling, introduced in remarks as a Shoreline resident who participated in signature gathering, told the council she and volunteers heard consistent messages from signers who said they value trees for livability, cooling and community health. “We hope all the city departments will take note of the wishes of the people who believe in the value of trees and the benefit from living among them,” Temerling said.
Bonnie Berry presented the petition text and read the group’s requested policy approach: to “increase the city of Shoreline’s existing tree canopy” by preserving established healthy trees and ensuring “equivalent tree canopy replacement for trees cut down on private and public land and in public parks.” Berry said the petition was presented in support of the city’s 2044 comprehensive plan natural environment goal number 7 and the ongoing tree-code update.
Speakers listed volunteers and community members who collected signatures at local events and asked the council to consider replacement rules that would require planting trees of similar species and equivalent canopy at maturity when trees are removed. Petitioners emphasized a preference to protect evergreen and native trees and noted the canopy’s role in wildlife habitat, urban heat mitigation, stormwater management, energy conservation and residents’ mental and physical health.
The petition was submitted as public comment; council members did not take formal action on the petition during the meeting. Council members heard the petition alongside other public-comment items and were told the group expects the city’s tree-code update process to reflect the petition’s goals.
