Developer outlines demolition plan for Washington Adventist Hospital campus; 38 trees proposed for removal, mitigation required

Kelly Donovan, an environmental project manager with Rogers Consulting, told a Takoma Park outreach meeting that the decommissioned Washington Adventist Hospital campus will be demolished and the site graded to a flatter final condition, and that 38 trees of about 175 surveyed are currently proposed for removal. "A majority of the 30, 38 trees that I was talking about that we are proposing are for removal, 30 of them are directly related to literally taking the buildings down," Donovan said, noting many trunks sit within two feet of foundations and OSHA clearance and equipment-access requirements make removals unavoidable.

Donovan said the team conducted a tree-impact assessment and a separate tree-protection plan. She described protective measures—such as trunk protection boards and tree-protection fencing—applied to many trees and said the consultants reduced the number of removals compared with earlier plans. "Most of the big trees are all being preserved," she said, adding that the average DBH (diameter at breast height) for trees proposed for removal is about 13.5 inches while preserved trees average about 25 inches.

Bob Graham, a principal with Rogers Consulting, and Todd Cohen, vice president of facilities, real estate, design and construction at Adventist Healthcare, said no redevelopment or new building is proposed as part of this project; the work is limited to demolition, abatement and site grading. Graham described the technical work: deep, 20– to 30-foot foundations will require gravel fill in lower areas and topsoil with seeding on the final surface. He estimated permitting and preparatory work could take on the order of 3–6 months in the hope of starting sooner, with a full demolition and grading sequence possibly extending to 14–18 months depending on methods and permitting.

On mitigation, Donovan said Takoma Park and Montgomery County processes will govern what replacement or compensation is required. "We will owe mitigation for every single tree that we will remove," she said, describing an independent review by the city’s urban forester and a scoring system that determines owed credits—larger, healthier trees can require multiple replacement credits. That mitigation can be satisfied on-site with plantings or by paying into a forest conservation fund, depending on the urban forester’s assessment and the constraints of future site plans.

Community members raised ideas for local reuse of timber and commemoration. A local maker offered to mill trunks for community projects; Cohen said Adventist Healthcare is open to discussing salvaging suitable timber where feasible. The team also emphasized they will not obtain permits authorizing tree removal until mitigation plans are agreed and the permits issued.

The project team listed the permits and clearances required before demolition begins: a tree permit from the City of Takoma Park, county-level permits (including Montgomery County review tied to forest conservation), erosion- and sediment-control approvals, utility disconnect clearances, and raze permits for seven buildings. Graham said those approvals include oversight of certain tree protections and that the county’s forest-conservation rules must be met for future plans.

The meeting closed with the team offering contact cards and an online project page for exhibits and minutes, and with a schedule to present a project update to the council on June 24. "We will not get our permit to remove any of these trees without going through that process and committing to a mitigation method," Donovan said.

Ending: The outreach session produced detailed questions about mitigation, salvage and timing but no final decisions; the project remains in permit review and the team said it will present a monitoring and mitigation plan at the next council update.