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For the three weeks, a church and a group of neighbors in the wealthy Southeast Portland enclave of Eastmoreland have fought over the future of eight mature maple trees.
Neighbors surrounding the Holy Family Catholic Church in early September learned that the church had plans to cut down all eight maples along Southeast Flavel Street to make way for new development. (The city had approved the plan).
Neighbors fought back, arguing that the church had misled them for a year by saying the trees would be preserved during the development project.
On Sept. 15, neighbors purposefully parked their cars under the maples so arborists couldn’t cut down three of the maples scheduled for removal that day.
Holy Family has since cut down three trees, and the church’s project manager, David Mastroieni, says the other five will come down, too.
“Sidewalk replacement was required by the city, which impacts cutting away root systems and eventually damaging the trees,” Mastroieni tells WW. “Given specific arborist reports and input from the City of Portland regarding the Norway Maple trees no amount of mediation effort can be done to not affect the trees and root systems as the utility works under or beside them.”
Indeed, the city says the maples over time have buckled the sidewalk and, as part of Holy Family’s development permit, the city’s Portland Bureau of Transportation required the church to make sidewalk repairs. Those repairs necessitate the removal of the maples, Mastroieni says.
But the neighbors take issue with that argument. They say that for nearly a year the church misled them by promising them that the trees need not be removed. They independently hired an arborist to assess the trees; that arborist concluded that the development was possible without disturbing the trees.
“In my opinion, there are likely practicable ways to retain the trees within normal design practices,” wrote an arborist with Honl Tree Care. “Importantly, most of the trees are not currently causing direct impacts to the sidewalk. Reasonable measures can be employed to avoid future conflicts while retaining the trees and their benefits.”
Sean Hennessy is one of the neighbors that in recent weeks has pleaded with the church, and with city officials, to prevent the removal of the maples.
“The church has failed to live up to the promises they’ve made to the neighborhood throughout the process,” Hennessy says. “The trees provide shade, they’re beautiful, they affect property values. They provide environmental resilience.”
Mastrioieni, on behalf of the church, says the church originally intended to preserve the trees. “We began the project with every intention of preserving as many trees as possible, as communicated to the community. However, once construction was underway and the supervising arborist joined the team, we received additional guidance indicating that preserving the nuisance maples along the street would be unwise.”
Hennessy and other neighbors that organized to preserve the trees challenged the process by which the city approved the permit, initially arguing that the city hadn’t followed its own processes and codes that govern development and tree preservation. (Staff within the city’s Permitting and Development division have since laid out to neighbors—in a lengthy email—how, in fact, the city had followed its own processes and rules in code.)
One key part of the equation: The city’s Urban Forestry division had no say in the fate of the trees, as Norway maples are considered a nuisance. Because of that designation, the city arborists get no say in the removal decision.
(After a bureaucratic shake-up that followed years of complaints about its strict policing of property owners, the entirety of Urban Forestry’s enforcement division, which handled all tree removal permits, moved under the control of Portland Permitting and Development. That means that Urban Forestry’s scope of control has narrowed significantly; now UF oversees just the growth and preservation of the city’s urban canopy, which similar to canopies in other cities, has dwindled slowly in recent years.)
Neighbors along Southeast Flavel Street wrote impassioned letters to city leadership this fall, urging them to reconsider the permit.
In a Sept. 2 letter to the city, Eastmoreland resident Mahmoud El-Gohary wrote: “We ask that you pause this removal and provide clarity on why the original plan has changed, whether alternatives were considered to preserve some or all of the trees, what steps, if any, can be taken to revise this decision.”
Christa and Andrew Fiske, who live on Flavel, wrote to the city that same week: “I feel both saddened and deeply disappointed that our city is willing to trade irreplaceable living infrastructure for concrete. We have an obligation to preserve and protect mature trees whenever possible—not only for ourselves but for future generations who will live with the consequences of today’s decisions."
Despite the city following its processes laid out in code, Hennessy and other neighbors aren’t pleased.
“While technically compliant according to their legal gymnastics,” Hennessy says, “it certainly doesn’t seem sensible or aligned with Urban Forestry’s stated goals for tree preservation and urban canopy targets.”
After arborists had to leave the site on Sept. 15 because neighbors’ cars intentionally blocked their work, it seemed that church leadership and neighbors had reached an impasse. Further fraying the tensions: that morning, as neighbors questioned the contracted arborists about their work, a parishioner with Holy Family reportedly yelled at the neighbors, saying the trees were none of their business. In response, Father Rodel in a Sept. 21 church bulletin wrote in a small blurb decorated with a drawing of a tree: “A gentle reminder that when we speak to our neighbors, we represent Holy Family and the entire Catholic Church…please remember to speak with kindness, gentleness, and a Christ-like spirit.”
Three days after the confrontation, arborists cut down three of the eight maples. Still, Father Rodel de Mesa of Holy Family agreed to a Sept. 26 meeting with Hennessy and the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association tree committee to discuss the trees.
That meeting took place as scheduled this Friday. Hennessy, who attended, said neighbors on the tree committee offered the church ideas to alter plans in ways that could ostensibly save the remaining trees. Hennessy says Mastroieni, who represented the church at the meeting, made no promises.
Indeed, earlier this week Mastroieni said in an email that the five remaining trees will come down as the project moves along. The church will replace them with new trees, he says.
He argues that the maples are not only an impediment to development, but also a safety issue.
“We are very concerned about the safety of our parishioners, neighbors and others on the sidewalks,” Masttroieni says. “In addition, the arborist that we hired to report on the condition of the existing Norway maple trees suggests that the trees with damaged root systems are subject to falling in windstorms, heaving rainstorms, etc., causing concern for liability.”
