Astra is a 100-year old native cedar in the Wedgwood neighborhood. The property she lives on was purchased by a developer who filed an application to build a new single-family home on the lot, on a date that was still under the old tree ordinance. When it became clear that Astra would be required to be saved and the house built around her, SDCI invited the developer to move their application to a more recent date so it would be under the new tree ordinance, to facilitate the removal of Astra. While the cutting permit was days away from approval, the developer girdled Astra with a chainsaw (this has been done to previous trees on development projects, presumably to ensure activists won’t try to protect a dying tree) Surprisingly, arborists assessed that the girdling attempt failed and Astra could live a full life span.
After media attention and community outrage, SDCI paused the permit and fined the developer $221k for damaging the “protected” tree, which was days away from being legally killed anyway. The community is asking SDCI to save Astra and build housing around her. Architects have provided multiple site designs which show Astra thriving next to new housing built to the full limit allowed by zoning–a win-win for the community, the developer, future residents and nature.
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