Proposed amendments to Tumwater’s tree codes face another possible delay

Work that started in 2022 to amend Tumwater’s various tree codes may get delayed again, as a draft work plan for city staff shows the work would pause in 2025. 

Brad Medrud, Tumwater’s planning manager, discussed the work plan in a joint meeting of the Tumwater City Council and Planning Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 10. 

The plan will not be approved until January, as the Tumwater City Council expressed that they want to talk about the plan further when they reconvene in 2025. 

If the plan is approved in its current form, it would be the second consecutive year that the work to amend the city’s tree codes would get delayed.  

The codes are TMC 16.08 (Protection of Trees and Vegetation), TMC 12.24 (Street Trees), and TMC 18.47 (Landscaping), which the city is working to amend as part of its Urban Forestry Management Plan. 

The initial pause was to address a state building code that among its provisions, would have required structures in designated areas to be at a certain distance away from trees.  

Implementation of the code has been delayed due to SB 6120, which requires the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to update a map that shows where the new rules would apply. 

Medrud attributes the continued delay in 2025 to insufficient staffing capacity, as staff will be mostly preoccupied with the ongoing comprehensive plan update. He said that more than half of staff time would be budgeted for the update. 

Council member Joan Cathey took issue with the continued delay, implying that it contradicts the city’s climate commitments. 

“We’re very interested — we say — in climate. And one of the things most important — if not the most very important in climate — is trees. We have yet to deal with our tree preservation plan in any kind of important way if we think climate change is critical,” Cathey said. 

Medrud responded that there is too much work that needs to get done in one year, especially since some of it is required by the state. 

“We had to make a choice based on our staff capacity and our other works, and the timing of those particular things especially when it comes to the state-mandated updates,” Medrud said. 

“It was not an easy decision,” he added. 

Medrud mentioned that conversations about the issue have happened with the Planning Commission and the Tree Board, which was another issue for Cathey, saying that the council was not involved. 

Council member Leatta Dahlhoff suggested taking off working hours from some of the other planned tasks so that staff could gain momentum with the tree code updates.

Dahlhoff specifically mentioned cutting hours from the work needed to update the multi-family tax exemption program, which would be a more long-term project. 

Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan  

When Medrud mentioned that staff have too much work, among that work is an update of the city’s Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan, which has not been renewed since 2008. 

Planning Commissioner Terry Kirkpatrick commented that it “came out of left field” just two weeks ago and that they did not know it was going to be a state requirement. 

City Administrator Lisa Parks mentioned that staff plans to time the update in this particular time frame as a significant statewide grant will be available for park and recreation projects.