Cornell trees—live, dead, missing in action

The widening and improvements to Cornell Road, completed in 2005, included street trees along both sides of the road from Saltzman to Murray. Recently people have noted that several of them were removed from in front of the commercial building at 13305 NW Cornell. According to Stephen Roberts of Washington County Land Use and Transportation, this was done with the county's blessing.

This dying tree could pose a hazard and will be removed. The process will likely affect traffic, but if the removal of the trees on Saltzman was any indication, the skilled teams that do this work can accomplish the feat quickly.

He says, "We were contacted by an arborist recently who note\d they were having issues with the tree roots impacting the sidewalk.  Current Planning staff advised that the trees could be replaced with another County-approved species less likely to create the sidewalk issue." Watch for new trees to be planted before long.

During the construction, though, a large tree in front of the Courtyard at Cedar Mill apartments was slated for removal because it would be too close to the roadway. Joe Younkins, WC Capital Projects, recalls that the (then current, now former) property owner strongly opposed removal of the tree, so the project worked around it.

This resulted in a tree-well that may have been too small to allow enough water to the roots. Construction excavation may also have damaged the roots, according to Cedar Mill landscape architect Hal Beighley, who called our attention to the dying tree several months ago. He says the tree is a sequoia.

Norris & Stevens now owns the property. They were asking the county to do something about the dead tree, but Joe noted that he has recently talked with the property owner who now understands that the tree is his responsibility.

Look for it to be removed sometime this year. It is too bad, but it probably should have been taken out in the first place.

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