Renton School District groundskeepers work to re-open the street and sidewalk at 11:00 this morning where a large lower limb of a century-old tree fell down overnight.
Renton School District maintenance specialists were at Kennydale Elementary School this morning working to reopen the street and sidewalk after a landmark tree split and lost a large limb. There was no obvious precipitating cause reported for the tree failure (no extreme wind or impact); but the newly-exposed center of the tree appears rotted and hollow.
It was a sad sight, for the workers as well as the onlookers, since this tree has been part of Kennydale Elementary since the beginning of the school. One of the members of the school district staff said that the tree appears in aerial photos dating back to 1930. Kennydale School was first opened near the tree in 1970. As of this writing I’m not sure of the species of this tree. A friend of mine told me he thinks its a Northern Catalpa tree, and that seems likely to me.
Unfortunately, the open wound of the tree revealed a hollow core and significant rot. The tree is now unbalanced, and with the rotten center it is likely that it will have to come out entirely.
When Renton High School is torn down and replaced in the next four years, it won’t be a win for the environment. Yes, its replacement will have a “highly-efficient HVAC ” system and meet the “requirements of Washington Energy Code and Clean Building Act.” But constructing an all-new school instead of updating/expanding the existing one has a nearly insurmountable environmental cost. Millions of pounds of materials will be crushed and trucked to landfills, while millions of pounds of new materials will need to be mined, manufactured, and transported to replace them. It may take 80 years before an improved HVAC system overcomes this environmental impact, if it ever does.
In 2007 Carl Elefante, former president of the American Institute of Architects, summarized the new-vs-remodel dilema by pointing out that “the greenest building is the one that is already built.”
This link includes an excellent interview with Mr. Elefante, where he elaborates on this point. The argument that we should preserve buildings when possible extends far beyond Renton High School. We should be practicing it everywhere.
The Renton High replacement also involves tearing down 40 homes and businesses, which along with causing misery through unwanted takings and displacements, will also have to be replaced. And the new high school project will cut down hundreds of trees, more than the Renton code would typically allow for a site of this size. No amount of insulation in the new school will overcome the environmental cost of these impacts.
Our Renton students deserve the very best high schools we can give them, but no one should be arguing that this particular plan for Renton High was the most environmentally friendly one.
One of 32 houses being torn down for the new school. There are also eight businesses being bulldozed.Some of the trees being removed for the new baseball fields at the schoolThis page from the “New Renton High” presentation on the School District’s website implies that the new high school will be a win for the environment. (It won’t be)
A recent press release from the City discussed the impending purchase of the Stoneway Site for extension of Cedar River Park, but did not mention the environmental remediation challenges that will come with it.
A graphic in a Department of Ecology letter shows locations of petroleum and formaldehyde contamination on the Stoneway site
I support the city purchasing this site as long as Renton gets it for a fair price and we get assistance from the Department of Ecology, State Fisheries, and others to help fully clean it up.
According to the Department of Ecology, there is still formaldehyde, petroleum residue and potentially other industrial waste on the site that is acceptably capped and monitored so long as none of the soil, concrete, and buildings are disturbed. Any digging on the site requires Department of Ecology approval and likely a new environmental remediation plan. The site is also subject to continuous monitoring for chemical movement, and carries liability for whoever owns it.
A landscape contractor working for Renton takes a break from mulching around his newly planted street trees to greet us and our horse Zeus, last October 17.
I’m way overdue to share a purely positive story on this blog, and there is no shortage of such stories to tell. Our City and our region are teeming with caring, beauty, hard work, and achievement.
Last October our City’s arborist and street department planted some lovely new street trees along NE 23rd Place and NE 24th Street, not far from my home, in the North Renton Highlands. This was just one of their ongoing planting projects. I caught the work in progress when I was out on a walk.
The trees consisted of Japanese Snowbell and Persian Parrotia, and they will noticeably add to the street canopy as they mature. Most of the neighbors were excited to see the trees, although there were a couple concerns from residents who had landscaped the planting strip just the way they liked it. Hopefully when the trees bloom this spring everyone will be as pleased as I was to see them.
These trees were planted as part of Renton’s Urban Forestry program, overseen by Urban Forester Ian Gray and Inspecting Arborist Gabriella Golzarian. This neighborhood was a good candidate for the new street trees, as it had city-owned planting strips on both sides of the street, and didn’t already have trees in these strips.
This spring they are planning to plant some trees near Redmond Avenue Northeast and Shelton Avenue Northeast between Northeast 10th Street and Northeast 12th Street on the Renton Highlands.
Renton’s Urban Forestry website reminds us that there are many advantages to maintaining a healthy tree canopy:
Improves air quality by filtering pollutants and producing oxygen
Helps fight climate change
Helps control flooding and soil erosion
Provides and improves wildlife habitat
Provides shade and decreases heating and cooling costs
Increases real estate values
Attracts shoppers and other business activities
Reduces crime rates
Improves mental and physical health
Enhances community spirit
To learn more about Renton’s Urban Forestry program you can click here
Newly planted trees line a block of NE 23rd Place, one tree per home, in Renton Highlands.
New street tree on NE 24th Street, prior to mulching.
