Roberta Johnson looks down at an anchor root for a Douglas fir tree threatened by a development near her home Jan. 21. She and her husband, Joseph Johnson, are longtime Lynnwood-area residents who are worried that a housing development next door has gouged out the roots of trees on their property. Two record-setting windstorms in 2015 heightened their concerns, which are playing out around other new developments.

Roberta Johnson looks down at an anchor root for a Douglas fir tree threatened by a development near her home Jan. 21. She and her husband, Joseph Johnson, are longtime Lynnwood-area residents who are worried that a housing development next door has gouged out the roots of trees on their property. Two record-setting windstorms in 2015 heightened their concerns, which are playing out around other new developments.

No rules: Their land development may harm your tree’s roots

  • By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
  • Sunday, January 31, 2016 7:30pm
  • Local News

LYNNWOOD — Roberta and Joseph Johnson hated to see the forested land next door erased to make way for a new subdivision, but they can accept the realities of living in a growing area.

What worried them was the health of trees on their wooded property outside of Lynnwood city limits. They point to the root system of a towering Douglas fir straddling the property line that was damaged last year during grading for 89 new homes in the Silver Peak subdivision. The more than 120-foot-tall tree, they fear, sustained lethal damage and now poses a threat of falling on the homes of current and future neighbors.

There is still a thin buffer of trees along the property line where work hasn’t occurred, but the Johnsons worry about the trees on their side, too.

“We’re trying to get them to keep at least 15 feet from the roots of our trees,” Roberta Johnson said. “So far, there’s no indication that that’s going to happen.”

Retired teachers, the Johnsons live in a home they had built in the early 1970s near Swamp Creek and I-5.

Despite all the development nearby, their immediate neighborhood near Butternut Road and Larch Way is just now starting to be transformed.

It’s an increasingly common scenario as homebuilders fill in less densely populated pockets of suburbia, meeting the demand from the 10,000 or more people expected to be added to the county’s population yearly over the next two decades.

That’s something the Johnsons are discovering in the remnants of the forest in the unincorporated enclave near Lynnwood.

“We feel that we’re representative of a lot of Snohomish County,” Roberta Johnson said. “All of the homes around us have significant trees.”

They want the county to do more to protect trees in areas like theirs.

They cite the planning director’s statutory power to intervene during potentially hazardous situations.

There’s little in county code, though, to protect tree roots that extend onto a neighbor’s property.

County code generally prohibits grading within two feet of a property line. That’s the rule even when there are trees, unless the roots are needed to stabilize a steep slope or to protect some other critical area.

Viewed from the other side of the fence, there’s no duty to limit the full use of your property to protect someone else’s tree roots.

County attorneys have characterized the Johnsons’ situation as a civil dispute.

Hearing Examiner Peter Camp noted some of the Johnsons’ concerns about trees when he approved Silver Peak a year ago. Camp ordered the developer to submit an arborist’s report and follow its recommendation to protect trees bordering the Johnson property.

An arborist the Johnsons hired said the plan proposed by the developer’s arborist of using aeration tubes to sustain tree roots in areas impacted by grading wouldn’t work because the roots were damaged already.

The Johnsons appealed unsuccessfully.

Developers and neighbors often work together to address trees near a property line, said Tom Rowe, a division manager in the county planning department.

“This isn’t a new issue for us,” Rowe said. “In Silver Peak, we’ve had more tree issues than we typically see in a development.”

In Silver Peak, trees cover most of the property line.

The outlines of the future neighborhood are taking shape there. A paved road extends from Larch Way through the 15-acre property. Crews have contoured the bare earth for home lots. Caution tape creates a buffer between the west side of the site and the Johnsons’ yard — for now.

Representatives from developer Pacific Ridge Homes did not return calls for comment. The Bothell company was bought last year by D.R. Horton, a Fort Worth, Texas-headquartered company. It claims to be America’s largest homebuilder.

The Johnsons hired Woodinville-based arborist Anthony Moran to help make their case. Moran, who specializes in construction impacts, said grading activity last year caused damage that will destroy a tree on the boundary between the Johnsons’ yard and the new development.

“If you remove half the root system, you have crippled the tree,” he said. “Then you get failure.”

Health problems for trees often lag five to 10 years behind the damage, he said.

He recommended a 25-foot buffer along the property line — 10 feet wider than the Johnsons are seeking.

Moran said other local jurisdictions he’s worked in, including Lynnwood, are stricter than Snohomish County in requiring developers to survey neighboring trees.

“There needs to be some kind of accounting for the impact we’re having on neighboring trees, especially full-grown forest trees,” he said. “There’s nothing in there that says, ‘You killed the tree and you’re responsible.’ The law doesn’t address the situation.”

In 2014, the county updated its rules for tree retention during development. That created a shift in focus to maintain canopy cover, rather than protect individual trees. During those changes, the council removed a provision requiring landscaping plans to “include a description and approximate location of any trees on adjoining properties that may be directly affected by any proposed activities.”

The Johnsons hope their future neighbors can safely enjoy the trees around them, as they have for more than four decades.

“There are negatives about the trees,” said Joseph Johnson, after pointing out piles of evergreen branches blown down by recent storms. “But the positives outweigh them.”

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.