Officials look at removing poplar tree corridor along Sims Way

Proposal expected to generate strong public pushback

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Chainsaws may be coming to Port Townsend’s signature tunnel of trees entryway to town.

Officials with the Jefferson County Public Utility District, city of Port Townsend, and Port of Port Townsend have been talking in recent weeks of removing the long stretches of poplar trees on both sides of Sims Way in a nearly $2 million project that would include putting power lines underground, adding sidewalks along the Boat Haven property line, and replanting both sides of the street with more environmentally appropriate tree choices.

City, PUD, and port officials have all acknowledged during recent proposal discussions the potential public blowback the plan will create.

The tree-lined entryway into Port Townsend is an iconic feature, City Engineer Steve King acknowledged during a briefing on the proposal earlier this month to the Port Townsend Council Infrastructure and Development Committee.

“We know there is a lot of emotional attachment and concern about that,” he said of the tree-lined corridor leading to downtown.

The plan calls for the removal of 60 mature trees on the Boat Haven side of the road, and 70 that border Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park.

King said the Parks, Recreation, and Tree Advisory Board had reviewed the plan and endorsed it, but they also warned city leaders to “get ready for some strong pushback.”

Port Townsend Councilwoman Amy Howard, in a nod to the other lightning-rod issues that were also on that day’s agenda, such as housing for the homeless, dryly noted: “I would like to know why we didn’t put parking on this agenda, too, so we could become the most hated committee immediately at the gate.”

“There is going to be pushback. It’s going to be an unpopular decision one way or the other,” Howard said.

There are going to be people who are going to be unhappy with the proposal, she added.

But Howard also said officials had a duty to do what’s best.

“I see the necessity of the project,” Howard said.

That need comes from the toll the trees are already taking.

Jefferson County PUD has documented problems with power lines near the trees on the Boat Haven side of the street. Electricity has been seen arcing from the lines into the trees, and some of the poplars have been scorched brown from the contact.

Taking out the trees would also give the port room to expand the boatyard at Boat Haven, which could happen if the trees were removed and the power lines put underground.

On the lagoon side of the street, the city’s gateway plan going back to 1993 recommended thinning the stretch of poplars to open up views to the lagoon, and a 1986 study recommended the trees be taken out and replaced with native vegetation.

There have been evergreen trees planted just behind the string of poplars, but those trees have been outcompeted by the vigorous growth of the poplars.

“The suckers are growing big now. The problem is just getting worse,” King said.

King stressed the landscape will not be left bare if the trees are removed.

“It wouldn’t be blank, it wouldn’t be empty,” King said of the corridor.

The project is expected to unfold in five phases, with funding determining how much will get done.

The first phase would be tree trimming and removal, with undergrounding power lines in the second phase.

The third phase is installing a path and tree replanting.

The boatyard would be expanded in the fourth phase, with tree removal and planting on the Kah Tai side coming in the fifth phase.

The city, port, and PUD hope to purse public infrastructure funding from Jefferson County to pay for the project.

At last week’s meeting of the Port of Port Townsend commissioners, executive director Eron Berg set out what the tree removal would mean for Boat Haven: an expansion of the boatyard.

“The scope of which is tree removal, replanting, tree removal, undergrounding of the transmission lines, construction of a new pedestrian pathway, expansion of the yard, block wall, fencing, yard electrical and lighting,” Berg said.

“It’s a shy acre of additional yard ... in sort of a ribbon format,” he added.

Obtaining public infrastructure funding would bring the county into the project as a partner, Berg told commissioners.

“It would seem to be a very attractive project for public infrastructure and job creation,” he said.

The project would also fit with the port’s hope to expand the boat yard on both its north and west sides — a larger proposal that carries a higher price tag.

“In total, we think for about $5 million we could get about 4.7 acres or so,” Berg said. “But the ripest project would be the partner project that gets us about a shy acre and addresses some immediate safety concerns.”

Multiple permits would be needed for the project to move forward.

Street development permits are needed for work within the Sims Way right of way, as well as a flood development permit, and clearing-and-grading permit.

Tree removal, underground lines, and installing a path are expected to cost the PUD approximately $700,000.

The port faces costs of $900,000 for expansion of the boatyard under the proposal.

Replanting on the Boat Haven side of Sims Way would cost the city approximately $170,000.

Tree removal on the Kah Tai side is expected to cost the city roughly $200,000.