Pierce County city plans to cut trees along ‘picturesque’ drive. Neighbors aren’t happy
Driving along Lakewood’s Interlaaken Drive Southwest on Tuesday, the road was shaded by tall trees that hug the winding residential road leading to a bridge over Lake Steilacoom. Many trees along the roadway are marked with orange dots, which has shocked and angered neighbors who don’t want the trees to go away, even if it means sidewalks are going in.
A road-improvement project proposed by the city of Lakewood would fell about 30 trees along the road between Washington Boulevard and 112th Street Southwest.
Most of the marked trees will not be cut down, and the spray painting was done by a survey crew to record each tree’s location and size, the city clarified in an online FAQ about the issue last week.
“This inventory was done so we could design the project in a way that had the least impact on the surrounding natural environment and abutting private property,” the city wrote. “In the area where the trees are marked, the proposed road alignment was shifted as far east as possible to save as many trees on the west side as possible.”
An original design would have cut down 80 trees, but the city shifted the design to limit that number to 30 to lessen the impact, the city said in the online statement.
“The city understands 30 trees is still a lot,” the statement said. “But we have to balance public safety and the need for safe pedestrian access for the neighborhood with preserving the natural environment.”
Starting in 2025, Lakewood plans to fully remove and rebuild Interlaaken Drive, install curb gutters and sidewalks, upgrade stormwater systems and pave the roadway, the city said in the FAQ.
Once complete, the west side of Interlaaken Drive will connect to sidewalks at the Washington Boulevard SW roundabout, as well as sidewalks at 116th Street Southwest and north at 112th Street Southwest. Pedestrians will be able to travel from Steilacoom Boulevard to Washington Boulevard using sidewalks added to Hipkins Road, Idlewild Road, 112th Street and Interlaaken Drive.
The improvements will cost the city about $2 million, spokesperson Brynn Grimley said.
‘It’s like being in the mountains’
Sharon and Doug Wallace’s family has lived along Interlaaken Drive for more than 30 years.
Doug Wallace said most of the trees beside the road are Douglas firs but some are Garry oaks. Having grown up in Lakewood, Sharon Wallace said she’s seen the landscape change over time as a result of development. She serves on Lakewood’s Planning Commission.
“I like it because of the trees and the lakes. I like the fact that we have animals, and we have a big dog park. When I was growing up, we rode horses in that park, and people would run cross country, and it was all heavily wooded. I think it’s what makes the place charming — I mean that’s why it’s called Lakewood,” Sharon Wallace told The News Tribune. “We need to start looking at how can we accommodate growth and preserve trees.”
Along Interlaaken Drive, some trees reach 120 to 140 feet tall, and their branches meet in the center of the road, a rarity in Lakewood, Doug Wallace said.
“We have this beautiful tree-lined road, and it’s like being in the mountains,” he said. “Some of the houses are set back, and so it’s very inviting. And in the winter time when there’s snow on the branches, I go out and take pictures of the trees and branches, and it looks like a winter postcard.”
Doug Wallace said all of the neighbors they’ve spoken to agree that the road needs sidewalks, but he thinks the city could explore solutions in a more creative way, like using permeable paving to design sidewalks around the existing trees.
“There are people whose dogs have been killed being walked on the road, and there’s really no good shoulder for people to walk safely [on] with those people who now speed and text and drive and throw liquor bottles,” he said, noting the road is also hilly with hidden turns.
Resident Christina Manetti, founder of the nonprofit Garry Oak Coalition, has been vocal about not wanting trees to be cut down. A campaign she started resulted in 243 letters sent to the city opposing tree removal on Interlaaken Drive.
Manetti, who lives on the east side of the Interlaaken Bridge, described the road as “picturesque” and said removing trees there “would be just complete devastation, and it would ruin the atmosphere of that part of the road.”
Manetti argues the current plans undercut the city’s goals to expand Lakewood’s tree canopy to 40% by 2050. She also said removing larger trees doesn’t address problems like the heat-island effect, where urban areas with more concrete absorb heat and have higher temperatures compared to places with more natural landscapes.
“Trees take time to grow, and while they want to expand [the tree canopy] with saplings somewhere else, they’re cutting down the big ones we already have,” Manetti said.
Smaller trees are also having more trouble getting established now and need more water, Manetti said.
In a message to the community online, Lakewood said tree preservation is a City Council and public priority. Grimley told The News Tribune there are no old-growth trees being removed, and the project is still in the design stage. She said permeable pavement isn’t an option the city is considering because the path where the trees lie would be in the middle of a sidewalk.
“Our engineer was not familiar with using permeable pavement as a tool to save trees,” Grimley added. “[Permeable pavement] allow[s] runoff to permeate the ground and handle run-off as opposed to impervious surfaces.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
