Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Make sure you get a permit before chopping down your trees


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My family loves the greenery, majesty and aesthetics trees bring to Redmond.  The magnificent Douglas firs scattered all over my Education Hill neighborhood are an important reason why we moved here.  It wasn't just the good schools.  Despite their beauty, the hum of chain saws and stacks of wood piled up near driveways is common.


We've lived in our home 30 years and during that course had to remove 5 tall Douglas firs from our modest-sized property.  Do they grow! Sadly, two of them were magnificent "Landmarks". All but one of the trees (it was healthy) were cut because they were "dangerous," as defined by the city permit.  They also covered our roof with debris, sucked up water killing our plants, and a few ruined our street appeal and re-landscaping plans.

I can't remember how I first heard of the city permit requirement.  The city doesn't advertise it.  I think an arborist told me.  Not all tree companies told me about the permit requirement but they sure did fill up my mailbox and knock on my door.  One neighbor took down 8 trees from their property in one week's time.

According to the city, removed trees should be replaced with up to one to three new trees. You can find more information about the tree-cutting permit on these two pages on the city website:

http://www.redmond.gov/Residents/CodeEnforcement/TreeCutting  residential

http://www.redmond.gov/cms/one.aspx?pageId=136876  development

To plant trees in city parks go to the "GreenRedmond" web page:

http://forterra.org/subpage/green-redmond-partnership

Enjoy the green!

Bob Yoder

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