Effective Tree Ordinance Resolution Passed by Democrats

March 14th 2010, the 32nd Legislative District passed a resolution in favor of a strong and effective Tree Ordinance for Shoreline and other cities. 

The caucuses selected 33 delegates to the State Democratic Convention in June, to take place in Vancouver, WA.  They passed a number of other resolutions of importance as well.

Here is the website for the 32nd LD.

Resolution for An Effective Tree Ordinance for Shoreline

Submitted by Janet Way

Whereas, the City of Shoreline is now undertaking a process to develop a new tree ordinance and,

whereas, Shoreline’s current tree code is not effective because it is scattered throughout the development code,

whereas, trees are valuable to citizens and visitors to Shoreline as shown in the city’s vision and logo and,

whereas, values trees provide include beauty and quality of life, erosion protection, shade, air and water quality, carbon sequestration, stormwater protection, wildlife habitat, beautiful open space, food and many others and,

whereas, Shoreline contains headwaters of watersheds which effect Lake Washington and Puget Sound and,

whereas, citizens in Shoreline are currently working for the goal of certifying Shoreline as the largest city in the state to be a Backyard Habitat City by the National Wildlife Federation and,

whereas, trees are being lost at a tremendous rate and the tree canopy has been reduced significantly over the last decade and,

whereas, the City of Shoreline supported the passage of the Evergreen Communities Act in 2008 which encourages and assists cities and counties in creating tree ordinances and urban forestry and,

whereas, Democrats support the values trees provide, now therefore,

Be it resolved that the 32^nd District Democrats supports the passage and implementation of strong tree codes in all of our cities which protects significant trees, including species having smaller caliper diameters, which makes the code more useful and accessible, encourages quality urban forestry, and education of citizens about community trees and,

Further be it resolved that the 32^nd District Democrats urge the Shoreline City Council to pass a strong and effective tree ordinance and pursue urban forestry to improve Shoreline’s quality of life this year and notify the city, the Planning Commission and the media about our support.

Passed today, March 14^th 2010.