Plan to cut 100 trees at Ingraham High draws protesters

Vicky Prestrud carefully taped pictures of a dozen birds on the chain-link fence surrounding a small forest at Ingraham High School.

These are the owls, chickadees and woodpeckers that spend time in a grove of trees slated to be cut down, Prestrud said.

"I live next door to the school," she said. "I've seen all these birds in my yard or the school yard."

A dozen people who live near Ingraham in North Seattle gathered outside the fence Friday to protest plans by the Seattle school district to cut down about 100 trees, many of them decades old.

Supporters said the trees are 25 years older than the high school itself.

The protesters, part of Save Our Trees, say they might go to court to block the school district's plans and, if the trees are cut down, would launch a recall petition of Seattle School Board members who supported the Ingraham plan.

The district wants to cut down the trees as part of a $24 million renovation project authorized by voters last year.

Residents argue that the trees provide a welcome buffer between their homes and the high school. "This is a terrible example for the students of the city," said Steve Zemke, a spokesman for Save Our Trees. "The school district is playing the role of a schoolyard bully."

The school district plans to cut down nearly 70 trees, primarily evergreens, from a stand of 133. The district also plans to cut down 30 more trees deemed diseased. It wants to remove portable classrooms and build an addition to the school.

The district plans to remove the trees Friday and Saturday, while students are not at the school.

In a letter to neighbors of the high school, the school district says it has already passed the environmental hurdles necessary to remove the trees, including a city examiner's determination that the tree cutting did not require a full environmental study and that the trees could be cut down.

But that doesn't satisfy the residents, who question why the addition can't be built on a vacant piece of land at the north end of the school without cutting down the trees.

In a move that particularly angered Mayor Greg Nickels, the district sent letters to the neighbors this week saying the district withdrew its pending application for a master-use permit for the school addition, which means it can remove the trees now.

"As long as these applications are not pending, no city permits are required for removal of the trees, as none of those trees constitute 'exceptional trees' under city codes," wrote school official Fred Stephens this week. He said the permit would be resubmitted this fall.

By then, residents say, the trees will be gone.

In a prepared statement, Nickels said he was "deeply disappointed" in the decision by Seattle Public Schools to cut the trees without further city review or public input.

"The school district should stay within the regulatory process and act in good faith," he said. "We expect good stewardship of our trees from all our residents and from the school district."

Nickels spokesman Alex Fryer said the city is exploring whether the school district can withdraw its permit application with the stated intent to resubmit it later.

"Can you opt in and out of a permit?" he asked, adding that the city is trying to get a legal opinion.

But Fryer said there's little the city can do to stop the tree cutting. "This just seems like an act of bad faith," he said.

Zemke said the district's decision to withdraw the permit application is a way to get around the tree-removal dispute, but the group still plans to appeal. The appeal must be filed by Thursday.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com