Tree Action Seattle and Thornton Creek Alliance have released a joint report, based on the City of Seattle’s own GIS data, documenting violations of Seattle’s tree code and environmentally critical area protections at Sand Point Country Club. The analysis shows removal of large trees and the planting of invasive species within a riparian zone. In response, we are calling on Sand Point Country Club to daylight an underground culvert.

Read the introduction of our letter below. Click here to read the full report.

Dear Interim Director Steele and City Attorney Evans,

We are writing to ask for your assistance in compelling mitigation for violations of Seattle’s tree protection code (SMC 25.11) and Environmentally Critical Area regulations protecting riparian corridors and steep slopes (SMC 25.09) inside the Sand Point Country Club at 8333 55th Ave NE (complaint 004577-26CP). 

For years, neighbors have been contacting Tree Action Seattle about the removal of large trees and aggressive pruning inside Sand Point Country Club in Northeast Seattle. To understand the scale of the problem, Tree Action Seattle commissioned an independent GIS analysis from the highly respected arboricultural consulting firm Tree Solutions (report attached). Using the City of Seattle’s own LIDAR canopy datasets, the firm compared trees present in 2016 with those remaining in 2021, allowing removals across the 88-acre property to be confirmed. LIDAR works by scanning the landscape with laser pulses from aircraft, in this case creating a detailed three-dimensional map of the forest canopy, which makes it possible to see where trees once stood and where they have disappeared.

While neighbors report that aggressive pruning and tree removals are continuing, the removals documented in the Tree Solutions report are the only ones that can currently be confirmed beyond dispute using publicly available data. Confirming removals from 2021 to the present will require access to a more recent LIDAR dataset.

Neighbors report and photos show that vast stands of mature conifers have disappeared. Many of the remaining trees have been limbed up so severely that they have only small tufts of foliage remaining at the very top.

The results were shared with Thornton Creek Alliance to help evaluate potential impacts on Matthews Creek, which runs through the golf course and is a tributary of Thornton Creek.