Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 6, June 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Gas Works Park trees spared from the axe

By JAMES BUSH

Score one for the trees.

Gas Work Park's historic trees will stay put, due to a unanimous vote by Seattle's Board of Parks Commissioners on May 22. The board's endorsement of a proposed design for the park's undeveloped northwest corner followed four public meetings, a unsuccessful push by dog lovers for an off-leash area, and a blizzard of e-mails opposed to a plan to cut down at least 24 trees.

"I'm overjoyed with it," Richard Haag said of the commissioners' vote. Haag, the original architect of the world-renowned park, vigorously opposed both the tree cutting and dog run proposals. "It was a lot of time and energy emotional energy spent on this issue," he added.

The commissioners' vote came just one week after tree fans packed the final public hearing on the project, held May 15 at Hamilton Middle School. Participants argued against any removal of mature, healthy trees, questioning the value of public views that might be created, and accusing project landscape architects of being unsympathetic to the park's original design. "When I went to school, we studied this park," said urban designer Michael Woodland. "While I understand what the consultant here is trying to do with this park, I disagree with it."

The Gas Works trees purposely screen the park user from the surrounding city, giving the visitor a "series of outdoor rooms" to explore, landscape architect and park neighbor Catherine Maggio testified at the May 15 public hearing. The concept of removing trees to create views seems silly given the sweeping views of Lake Union and the downtown skyline available within the park, noted Joyce Moty. "If you want a view, leave your house and go for a walk."

One stated purpose of the proposed tree removal was improving the view from the newly-built Wallingford Steps, which run down the unopened Wallingford Avenue North street right-of-way just across Northlake Way from the park. But tree backers suspected a more likely source of support for the tree cutting were residents of the adjacent Regata Condominiums (the Wallingford Steps were built by the developers of the Regata project).

Maggio, the chief pro-tree organizer, learned that condo officials contacted the city in October 2001 with an offer to pay for tree trimming or removal to improve views across the park. (The condo also offered to remove the concrete retaining wall surrounding the park's northwest corner, not realizing it is included in Gas Works' historic designation.)

Regata residents participated in the early Gas Works Park planning meetings, but drifted away after public opposition crystallized against the tree cutting. By the May 15 meeting, condo board member Phyllis Waldenberg was calling for a truce in the war of words. "They're real people, they're nice people," she said of the condo's residents. "They want to be part of the neighborhood."

Parks Commissioner (and kayaker) Kate Pflaumer even joked about the neighborhood battle before voting to protect the trees. "I would rather look at a row of trees as I row by there than look at their condominiums," she said.

Of course, commissioners had already shown their pro-tree colors at an earlier meeting by ordering project architects the Berger Partnership back to the drawing board to create a plan minimizing tree loss. Designer Guy Michaelsen did them one better by also creating an alternative that preserved all the trees the proposal that commissioners eventually picked.

But the most influential argument seemed to be that retaining the trees would show respect for Haag's original design. The cedars slated for removal were part of a row of trees marking the formal railroad line that ran by the former natural gas plant on the site. Six sycamores in the heart of the tree removal area were intended by Haag to provide a formal entrance into the park.

Haag was recently honored by the American Society of Landscape Architects with the ASLA medal for lifetime achievement.

"I wonder why the view came into [this discussion], because it is contrary to what the park is," said Board Chair Bruce Bentley.

After the vote, tree backers credited Seattle City Council members Nick Licata, Richard Conlin, and Peter Steinbrueck with providing some much-needed behind-the-scenes support. But the winning margin was undoubtedly supplied by ordinary Seattleites who just couldn't figure out why anybody would want to chop down trees in Gas Works Park.

"People who experience the park are the best judges of what they value," said Maggio. "And I think the people have spoken very clearly and loudly about that."