Neighborhood Feel

Enatai is blessed to have such a fantastic collection of mature trees so close to a dense urban center like downtown Bellevue. As population and development increase, it becomes more import to protect those trees.

This sequence of images shows a possible outcome of development in Enatai when builders push past the limits of the current protections, pay the fines, skirt the rules, etc. Eventually the trees are gone and the houses are jammed onto the lots.

What Kind of Neighbor Do You Want to Live In?

The choice is what kind of neighborhood you want to live in. With the financial interests that are at play, it seems a middle ground may not happen in the distant future. With each lot developed, significant tree loss will likely occur. At some point, the entire housing inventory in Enatai could be flipped and the big trees would suffer greatly, if not be wiped out entirely.

So, the simple question comes down to whether you want this...

or this...

It is already being demonstrated that existing tree protections in Bellevue are not enough to persuade developers to honor our neighborhood's wooded appearance.

What about our old trees?

There are trees in the neighborhood that are more than 150 years old. Once those trees are cut down, there is no practical way to replace them. They're gone for good as far as human lifetime scales are concerned. If such a tree is "inconvenient" to the developer's monetary interest, such a tree will come down. Even if the tree isn't inconvenient, the tree has lumber value that will entice the developer to cut it down anyway.

The developer doesn't have to live here, but we do.

Won't the trees that are cut down come back?

If replanted and left alone, they would, though, not likely in our lifetime. In addition, there is a belief that they are not going to be left alone anyway. Some want to ensure every large tree is gone, whether it happens overnight or they're whittled down over the years like the sequence shows above. Even the replacement trees are not likely to get a chance to mature before they are cut down again. The end goal for some is that they are all gone. Current tree regulations will allow that to happen when mixed with those who are willing to work any fines into the cost of the project.