||| FROM DON WALTERS, CHILDREN’S HOUSE BOARD PRESIDENT |||

I wanted to comment on the article from January 22 by Matthew Gilbert, titled “North Beach trees on the chopping block.”

Cory Harrington does not officially represent the board of Children’s House. I don’t think he officially represents the board of Salmonberry, either. Cory, with his expertise, has helped the schools in the past with various issues and in this particular issue, he was helping us navigate through the county and EPRC, as we tried to solve our problem with dangerous trees.

The Children’s House is only interested in doing what is necessary to keep children, pedestrians, vehicles, and our buildings safe.  Some of the trees are dead. Some are dying. Some need pruning. Over the past couple of years, several decent-sized branches have fallen from these trees, both on the public right-of-way, and also in the playground at Children’s House. Evidence of recent and past fallen limbs can be seen on the trees themselves. Fortunately, no person has been hit by a falling branch, yet. Recently a large branch crushed a part of our fence near one of our buildings, which we had to subsequently repair.

Last fall, the Executive Directors of both schools met and were wondering if all the trees needed to be removed and replanted, or if some other solution should be contemplated. The county maintains that public easement, so the schools informed them of the issues. Since the county has professional staff on hand (landscape architect, tree trimmers, etc.), we are deferring to their plans. The EPRC is concerned about what the county might want to do and how that will affect the look of North Beach Road and so they have submitted their proposal to the county. Now we wait to see what the county proposes based on that input.


**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**