SPS says proposed addition (left) will remove 29 trees
  • Seattle Public Schools
  • SPS says proposed addition (left) will remove 29 trees
A more than two-year-long battle between the Seattle Public Schools and a group of neighbors over a grove of large, rare evergreens might finally come to an end this week.

Big public institutions fighting preservationists to raze trees for development is nothing new. In this particular instance, SPS wanted to chop down about 70 of 130 trees on the Ingraham High School campus to build an additional classroom building. Environmental activists objected, and were able to get an injunction from the court to block the chain saws.

Although the school district asked King County Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle in September to remove that injunction, she didn't. She did, however, grant their request for an early trial which will be held Friday. "The outcome is what the district hoped for," says Rich Hill, an attorney representing SPS. "We hope to get a decision by Nov. 5 one way or the other." Hill says that the school district has changed the $20 million project since its inception, reducing its impacts on the environment considerably.

But Steve Zemke of Save the Trees, the group that filed the lawsuit against the district, says that SPS is misrepresenting the extent of the impact. The school district's latest proposal claims that only 29 trees will be lost. "We say more than that will be lost," Zemke says, estimating the number to be closer to 40. "There are some large trees too close to the construction which will die within five years."

Zemke wants every Douglas fir, Pacific madrone, and Western red cedar in the grove to be preserved. "It's an uncommon plant habitat and a much-needed green space," he says. Zemke wants SPS to move the project to the north side of the campus, but the district contends that the site is "academically inferior" and will cost too much.