Tempers flare over Talus tree removal

April 29, 2014

By Peter Clark

The city of Issaquah stopped the removal of Talus neighborhood trees April 27 after residents cried foul.

Work began in the beginning of April to take out some tall trees blocking the view of residents. While the Talus Residential Association remains confident it took all necessary steps to remove the trees, some homeowners remain unconvinced.

People have been pretty adamant about clearing those trees to have a better view of the lake, said Talus resident Chad Fletcher said, who is angry about the removal. Those particular trees were there and always were there.

Sandi MacCalla, vice president of large scale communities with The Management Trust CDC, represents the Talus Residential Association and works to manage the property. She said they had taken a long, correct and public process to provide views to residents who paid for them.

Weve been working on this for seven months, MacCalla said. There are people taxed for a view and there are people not getting it.

The city approved the removal of 18 trees to be replaced with vine maples, flowering crab apple and flowering cherry trees. MacCalla said no evergreen trees would be taken down and that the management group was committed to replacing lost trees to preserve a green Cougar Mountain.

We feel badly that all that work has gotten misunderstood, MacCalla said about residents concerns. We are just trying to make the best choice for all considerations possible.

However, after residents claimed Northwest Landscape Services marked more trees than approved for removal, the city filed a cease work order to stop all tree cutting April 27.

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Tempers flare over Talus tree removal