NOVEMBER? ALREADY?

Ingraham Trees..still growing

WOW!
IT IS NOVEMBER!!!!

October started with fire:
A pre-hearing conference, dates for a new appeal hearing,
Lining up witnesses, finding $$$, all an uproar…

SWOOSH…a ruling, a surprise ruling
The City Hearing Examiner sent the entire project back to the Department of Planning and Development…heads spun…smiles appeared, hearts beat normal.

The Seattle School District and the Department of Planning and Development had NOT allowed or provided for an OFFICIAL COMMENT PERIOD on the new proposal. The new proposal called the “west compressed version” had not been publicized on a Land Use Notice, nor was it given the standard comment period as required by CITY LAWS…
The School District and DPD tried to be sneaky, but it didn’t work!

NOW, it is NOVEMBER, and the LAND USE NOTICE (MUP board) has appeared. The Permit # is 3009549, the project appears to be the same one as was presented in August/September to the DPD and uses the same SEPA Checklist and Addendum.

Sooo, for those who are the Ingraham Trees Faithful Guardians, it is once more time to write to the DPD to express the multitude of reasons to keep the Northwest Grove.
I would argue that it is a habitat area for local wildlife, year round and migrating, I would also argue that it is a rare plant association less than 2% of the trees in the City are Conifer—and native plants attract native wildlife. It is a pocket park for the neighborhood, adding a green space in an area rapidly being overtaken by developers. These trees are a natural filtration system for air and water…saving the City $$$ when it comes to drainage costs..(cleaning water and taking stress off of the drainage system); healthcare costs (filtering pollutants from air), recreational (to turn a 3 acre parking lot into a park will cost the City over 8 Million in Northgate).

There is one more point to be made in this long journey. The Seattle School District starts with the belief, and statement that the Northwest Grove of Trees, on the Ingraham High School Campus is not Environmentally Important. The official Designation given by the School District is “Designation of Non-Significance”. The Seattle School Districts Definition and Designation is accepted by the DPD as accurate. Because of this, it MUST be emphatically emphasized that the Northwest Grove of Trees, known as the Ingraham Trees IS Environmentally Important, and should be given a “Designation of Significance”. The plant association and the wildlife it supports was recognized as important, and protected by City Code in the City Hearing Examiners ruling listed below.

The more City rules you can quote, the better….

The DPD on their website gives the following suggestions for making comments:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Notices/Public_Comment/How_To_Comment/default.asp#Tips

Here is the permit website:http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=3009549.
Here is the Hearing Examiners Decision from the City of Seattle Remanding the project back to DPD for evaluation of the Environment: http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=&s2=ingraham&s3=&S4=&Sect4=AND&l=20&Sect3=PLURON&Sect5=HEAR1&Sect6=HITOFF&d=HEAR&p=1&u=/%7Epublic/HEAR1.htm&r=1&f=G
Here is the environmental checklist for the project:
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/facilities/BEXIII/Ingraham/2nd_revision_IngrahamSEPAChecklist.pdf
Here is the addendum to the environmental checklist:
http://bex.seattleschools.org/docs/ingraham/Ingraham_SEPA_Addendum_06102009_Checklist.pdf
Here is the environmental policies and SEPA laws for Seattle:
http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=25.05&s2=&S3=&Sect4=AND&l=20&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect3=PLURON&Sect5=CODE1&d=CODE&p=1&u=/%7Epublic/code1.htm&r=1&Sect6=HITOFF&f=G

The Design Team Guidelines for Seattle Public Schools:
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/facilities/DesignStandards/SchoolDesignManual.pdf