Judge orders Seattle to protect trees in park

A King County Superior Court judge is ordering Seattle Parks and Recreation to study what is needed to protect the remaining trees in Occidental Park in Pioneer Square.

Judge John Erlick ruled in November that the city violated state and city environmental regulations in March 2006 when it cut down 17 of the 60 London plane trees at the park. He found that the city did not adequately address how removing those trees would affect those left standing.

In issuing the order Wednesday, Erlick did not order the city to replace the trees. James Klauser, a lawyer representing two community activists who fought the removal, acknowledged in court that that wouldn't be realistic.

However, Klauser said: "This is a major slap on the hand for the mayor and the city's parks department. Before this, they thought they could do anything they wanted."

Parks department spokeswoman Dewey Potter said city officials received the written order Monday and still were reviewing it.

Though some neighborhood activists lamented the loss of the trees, the city said it was trying to inject more life into what was a little-used and drug-infested park. Thinning the thick canopy of trees would make the park brighter and airier, park officials said.

Two Pioneer Square activists, Bif Brigman and Elle Tracy, who filed the initial lawsuit saying the city had not done sufficient analysis before removing the trees, won a temporary reprieve in January 2006.

But when King County Superior Court Judge Joan Dubuque granted a stay suspending the work until the court decided Brigman and Tracy's case, the city said delaying the project would cost money.

In response, Dubuque ordered Brigman and Tracy to put up a $119,000 bond, which would go to Parks and Recreation if the city won in court.

But when Brigman and Tracy said they didn't have that kind of money, Dubuque lifted the stay and the trees were cut down March 6, 2006.