15-103018Jim Ferrell, Mayor
Ms. Wendi Simpson
West Green HOA
Federal Way, WA
Via e-mail: m:tadipiclnics�alioo�xom
FILE.
Re: File #15-103018-00-Al); A-PPROVED WITH CONDITION
West Green Condominiums — Tree Maintenance; Parcel No. 9266600000, Federal Way
The City of Federal Way Community Development Department has completed review of your written
request, on behalf of the West Green HOA Board of Directors, regarding tree maintenance on the above -
mentioned, residential condoiurn property.
FINDINGS
The request is for the following activities on the approximately 15.8 acre site:
1. Limb up Douglas Firs located near the condominium buildings. Insurance company
requirements include a 15-foot clearance of limbs from rooflines and buildings for safety
purposes.
2. Remove cottonwood trees along 5,h Avenue due to seasonal maintenance obligations.
3. Remove alders that are leaning and/or dying.
4. Remove wild cherry trees as many are dead or dying.
5. Remove madronas that are leaning and/or dying, including those near Building H that
suffered from fire damage in 2000.
6. Remove the sweetgurn tree near the water main in front of Building H.
City staff has reviewed the written request and conducted a site visit with you on July 7, 2015, to review
proposed areas and types of activities proposed. Review of the city's Critical Areas Maps shows an off -sit
wedand located on the Group Health property to the west. This Category III wetland requires a 50-foot
buffer. There is only one area of proposed tree maintenance activity affected by the location of this weda
buffer, which is the area in the vicinity of the northern half of Building C. Tree maintenance work must b
setback 10 feet from the western property line in the vicinity of the northern half of Building C in order t
avoid the wedand buffer area. I
'I'he property is zoned _MT1 '151# (Multitan-My KF71777FE77 ana per Teaeiai w a e vise 77-c V T
the property is required to maintain 30 tree units/acre. The site is approximately 15.8 acres in size, which
equates to 474 tree units. "Tree unit" is a measurement that gives a value to the number of trees retained on a
site based upon the size of the tree. The larger the tree, the more tree units that single tree qualifies for. The
proposed project involves tree maintenance. Some of the tree removal includes the cottonwoods near 5th
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iiqgypilo M.=." MEMO!
Ms. Wendi Simpson
Page 2
July 8, 2015
Avenue.and some cherry trees that may not be classified as overhanging vegetation, fire hazards, invasive
species, hazard trees, nuisance vegetation, and/or dead, dangerous, or diseased. If they are otherwise h i eaithy
trees, those trees would need to be replaced if the property were to fall below the required 474 tree units.
The property is heavily vegetated, with mature greenbelt areas between groups of condo buildings and
Tn nficlit&Jnn es of tree species It Is unli
Iot land
that the proposed project will bring the pxopert� bdd��i the teq6ibad number of tree units, unless an ekcesSft
number of healthy trees are removed. The applicant is advised to contact the city if the scope of their tree
maintenance project changes, in order to determine replanting requirements.
Regarding tree maintenance work near 5th Avenue South, based on FWRC Chapter 4.35, if trees are in the
right-of-way a right-of-way permit is required to remove them. There is no fee for the permit and the
pilac. i for cottonwood tree
removal. Contact Engineering Technician Kathy Mathena in regard to the right-of-way permit at (253) 835-
2725 or kathy.mathena@cityoffederalway.com, as she can supply the permit application and guidance on
what is needed.
CONCLUSION
The city concurs with removal of overhanging vegetation, fire hazards, invasive species, hazard trees,
nuisance vegetation, and dead, dangerous, and diseased trees. The limbs from the Douglas Firs that pose a
hazard to the buildings may be limbed to a height 15 feet above the roof. Limited removal of healthy
cottonwood and cherry trees is acceptable.
DECISION
Pursuant to FWRC 19.120.030(12), the tree maintenance outlined in the 'Findings' section of this letter is
hereby approved as conditioned.
1. Tree maintenance work must be setback 10 feet from the western property line in the
vicinity of the northern half of Building C.
CLOSING
This administrative decision shall not waive compliance with future City of Federal Way codes, policies, and
standards relating to this site. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Senior Planner
Stacey Welsh at (253) 835-2634, or stacey.welsh@cityoffederalway.com.
Sincerely,
Isaac Conlen
Planning Manager
c: Stacey Welsh, Senior Planner
FL 415-103018-00-AD D- LD. 69985
Is ON
From: John Mulkey
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 11:35 AM
To: Stacey Welsh
Cc: Kathy Mathena
Subject: RE: West Green condos
Based onFVVR[ Chapter 4`35 if trees are in the ROW they need to apply for a ROW permit to remove. There will not be
^ a fee for the permit but they still need to provide a traffic control plan & insurance. Public Notice isNOT required for
cottonwood tree removal.
They can contact Kathy K4athenainregard tothe Right ofWay Permit. She will beable tmsupply them With a permit
application and guidance mnwhat isneeded from them.
Kathleen Mathena
253-835-2725
From: Stacey Welsh
Sent: Tuesday, JuhU7, 2015 11:00AM
To: John Mulkey
Subject: West Green condos
Em
West Green condos HOAwants todotree maintenance o their property off of 5 1h Ave S. One component of the work is
removing cottonwoods behind the sidewalk along 5 th Ave. I wanted to check with you if there are any right-of—way
concerns about them doing that. |sthere anything | need tolet them know?
1
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To: Permit Center, City of Federal Way
Attention: Ms. Stacey Walsh
33325 Eighth Avenue South
Federal Way, WA 98003
June 17, 2015
Re: West Green Tree Project
Dear Ms. Walsh:
Thank you again for your help on the phone this morning. I've heard so many versions of what
we need to secure from the City that it was good to get the real answer from you about the
process. You said that we don't need a "permit" but we need "permission" and I picked up, with
Please know that our "tree maintenance" is woefully behind. We have a Reserve Study and are
using it to make upgrades to the property this summer and the next two summers thereafter.
Before we can paint, we are having decks replaced/repaired, new roofs/fascia/gutters put on
several buildings all over the complex, and will be having the first section (the northernmost
cul de sac in your photos) painted too, probably in August.
No one has limbed up (skirted up, elevated) any of our Douglas firs in about six or seven years,
which was when our onsite person dropped the chainsaw and broke the bar. We do not want o
4
able to agree on this and discover that we could, in fact, afford to hire gutter and treetrimming
services to deal with work that our employee(s) had previously done in those two areas. I
I volunteered for this project, mostly because I truly want it to get handled as soon as possible,
but also because our insurance company has mandated that we need to cut tree limbs back so that
they are no closer than 15 feet from rooflines, buildings, and so that they do not pose a danger to
people or property because they are leaning, dying, or dead.
We also have a critical situation with a sweetgum tree and our watermain in the first section, in
front of the H Bldg. It is first on the list to be taken out and the root(s) ground out.
On walkthroughs with three bidders I've learned that we have a lot of wild cherry trees on our
property and many are dead or dying, We also have lots of alders that are leaning and/or dying
and several madronas that are dead or dying.
We have a large number of cottonwoods that create messes at least four times each year,
necessitating time spent by our maintenance guy(s) that could be better used on other things, We
are bordered on our north property edge, as I said on the phone, along South 320'h Street, by a
number of cottonwoods that are in what is considered a "wetland". We are not touching any of
MINTRIM67 ff 6=0 I a
ITe have a significant number of Aou"la-s-tius-thAl-w-ere RI n.e 0 e rui ings wnen
the builder put them in (likely 1978, 1979) and they were cute Christmas -tree size. They are
now much taller and have much longer branches that hang over many of our roofs; some of these
trees hang over two buildings!
Therefore, we ask that you grant us permission to limb up the firs; take out a number of
cottonwoods, leaning alders, wild cherries, and overhanging (dying) madronas. There are still a
few of the original hemlocks that the builder put in or left, amazingly, and they need attention as
well. A number of our madronas were severely injured in the fire in 2000 that burned down half
of the H Building; they've been struggling along since but are more dead than alive.
Our successful bidder will bring along a chipper and will leave the chips for us to use as
groundcover in various areas. They will remove the larger wood that is not chipped and we arii
not benefitting in any way from that wood; they can either sell it or donate it as firewood or
whatever they choose.
The bidders have all said that they have not seen any birds' nests on our walkthroughs; their
eyesight is definitely better than mine, so I trust this statement, We have some squirrels and one
or two bunnies on the property and care will be taken not to disturb them or any other wildlife
there might be (we had ducks in our swimming pool a few years back).
Please contact me if there are any questions or if you need further information. My number is
253/838-8780 with voicemail.
Respectfully su d,
Wendi Simpson, on behalf of
West Green HOA Board of Directors