Eight little trees in Auke Bay have caused a big fuss for the city\u2019s Docks and Harbors Department. Now, the department has a plan to end the sapling squabble.<\/p>\n
About two weeks ago, the city planted a few dozen young Littleleaf Linden trees \u2014 none taller than about 10 feet \u2014 around the perimeter of the newly constructed Statter Harbor parking lot. Eight of those trees stood directly across Glacier Highway from the Squires Building, a mixed-use building housing eight businesses and eight residences.<\/p>\n
Though the trees are small right now, they will eventually grow to be between 20 and 30 feet tall, and several businesses in the Squires Building are worried that the trees will block their views of the harbor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll hurt the businesses that are there,\u201d Don Howell, the building\u2019s owner, told the Empire in a phone interview Thursday. \u201cThe view is a big draw for them. It\u2019s the reason the building was built there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The building was built in the 1950s as a hardware store with some upstairs apartments. It was renovated and expanded several times throughout the \u201880s. Howell, who bought the building in 1996, said that it hasn\u2019t changed much since then; it hasn\u2019t needed to. Its view of the harbor is enough to attract people from all over town to the building\u2019s several restaurants, such as Squirez Bar, Gonzo and Chan\u2019s Thai Kitchen.<\/p>\n
Shayla Weeks, owner of Squirez Bar, told the Empire Thursday that she is worried that the trees will one day block her second-story view of the harbor. Squirez Bar recently began a campaign to \u201cSave the View,\u201d asking patrons to \u201ccontact your local officials and let them know how you feel about the new trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very disappointing,\u201d Weeks said of the Statter Harbor parking lot landscaping. \u201cWe rely on those views. We have a lot of people coming here from downtown and all over to enjoy the view.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Allen has been frequenting Squirez Bar for the past 16 years. Allen, a former commercial fisher and ferry worker, said he likes to go the bar because he likes to \u201cwatch the comings and goings of the boats.\u201d After the city planted the trees, Allen was one of the first people to join the Save the View campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be nice to give the city a chance to do something about it instead of just talking about the trees at the bar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ideal compromise \u2014 according to Allen, Weeks and Howell \u2014 would be for the city to relocated the eight trees directly in front of the Squires Building. Ideally, some of the trees closer to the water that could also impact the view from the building would be moved, too.<\/p>\n
After about 10 days of fielding grievances about the greenery, the city has decided to comply. Gary Gillette, the Docks and Harbors Department\u2019s port engineer, said he plans to meet with the landscape architect behind the new Statter Harbor parking lot to come up with a plan to relocate the trees and replace them with Sitka Rose bushes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be good neighbors, and we certainly don\u2019t certainly don\u2019t want people to think we\u2019re against local business,\u201d Gillette told the Empire Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to try to make this right and make it palatable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gillette said it was never his department\u2019s plan to \u201ccreate a wall of landscaping\u201d that would block the Squires Building\u2019s views of the harbor. In fact, the earlier versions of the parking lot plans included Red Maples instead of the much shorter Littleleaf Lindens. Red Maples grow to be 60 feet tall.<\/p>\n
Gillette and the landscape architects working on the project picked the shorter trees to avoid impacting the view. And, according to Gillette, he didn\u2019t have much of a choice when it came to planting the trees.<\/p>\n
City code required him to maintain at least 10 percent of the parking lot under vegetative cover. What\u2019s more, the city\u2019s Planning Commission required Gillette\u2019s department to plant trees as a part of its conditional use permit.<\/p>\n
While the commission was discussing the permit in early 2013, several residents from the Auke Bay Towers condos, located behind the post office, requested that the city plant trees around the parking lot. Like the Squires Building\u2019s tenants, the condo owners were worried about their view. They didn\u2019t want to look out their windows at asphalt.<\/p>\n
Gillette thinks that he and Chris Mertle, the parking lot\u2019s landscape architect, can come up with a plan that will hide the parking lot from the condos and leave the harbor views for the Squires Building.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think we can make this work and still have some nice landscaping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gillette doesn\u2019t yet know when the trees will be relocated, but he is sure \u201cit\u2019s going to be before they cause any blockage of views \u2014 if they ever would.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n
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