‘Scab of Gig Harbor’ to get hundreds of trees, shrubs in beautification project
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- Gig Harbor crews will plant 192 trees and 699 shrubs near a roundabout.
- City funds $135,000 from Streets Capital to mitigate past development impacts.
- Project is driven partly by city council members’ interest in planting trees in the city.
Crews are replanting a barren area in Gig Harbor with hundreds of trees and shrubs, restoring greenery removed elsewhere in the city for projects including the Gig Harbor Sports Complex.
Hundreds of flags were visible on March 25, staked on a slope near a roundabout connecting Harbor Hill Drive and Burnham Drive. The flags indicate where crews will plant 192 trees and 699 evergreen shrubs, beautifying an area that City Administrator Katrina Knutson described jokingly as “the scab of Gig Harbor” in a report to the City Council on March 23.
Construction began March 9, and the city expects the project to be completed within 30 working days, according to the city’s Capital Improvement Projects webpage
The slope leads down to a stormwater pond, which collects runoff from rain and snowmelt. The pond treats the water, which picks up pollutants as it travels, and releases it into a stream that makes its way down to Gig Harbor Bay, according city engineer Aaron Hulst.
The city is pursuing the landscaping project to mitigate for environmental impacts of two developments in the city, Gig Harbor Sports Complex Phase 1B (Doris Heritage Park) and the construction of Harbor Hill Drive, said Hulst. The city’s 2025-2026 biennial budget notes that the city removed some native vegetation in Northarbor Business Park when building the Harbor Hill Drive extension in 2017.
He also clarified that the city is going “above and beyond” what was necessary to mitigate for Phase 1B of the sports complex. The city satisfied the requirements for tree retention near Doris Heritage Park, but some council members were interested in “doing a one-for-one replacement (of trees) off-site somewhere else,” he said.
The project will cost $135,000 out of the city’s Streets Capital fund, according to the Gig Harbor Capital Improvement Projects webpage. The city hired AHBL, Inc. to design the landscaping and Gig Harbor Excavation LLC for construction.
This story was originally published March 28, 2026 at 5:15 AM.
