Neighbors express concerns of damage to Methodist church's tree to town planning commission

The first memory from the La Conner United Methodist Church memorial garden project isn’t what anyone had in mind.

Town of La Conner staff last week requested that work by volunteers in the garden cease while an arborist reviews potential damage by a backhoe to the root system of a large Norwegian spruce tree.

Neighbors voiced their fears that the tree’s health was compromised and now poses a threat to nearby properties and the historic church building at Second and Benton during the public comment segment of the Aug. 6 planning commission meeting at Maple Hall.

“There’s concern about the tree, that it could come down,” resident Wendy Hubenthal told commissioners.

Hubenthal said neighbors became anxious when landscape work for the garden shifted from hand labor to use of a backhoe.

“It was vigorously turning dirt,” Hubenthal said, adding that it appeared the machine was chopping toward the tree’s roots.

As many as three of eight tree roots were severed, neighbors estimated.

“The good news is the Town has engaged an arborist,” Hubenthal said. “There are no villains here.”

Assistant Planner Ajah Eills said a landscape permit had been issued for the project with the understanding that no machinery would be employed.

“They were given a permit for minor landscaping in the (church) courtyard,” Eills said. “They indicated they would leave the tree undisturbed. We thought the work was going to be done by hand by church volunteers.”

Eills surmised that the backhoe was enlisted to aid the volunteers, some of whom she termed church elders.

“We heard from neighbors that additional impacts were occurring,” Eills related, “so we sent code enforcement out.”

Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra took photographs at the site, which is located within the Historic Preservation District, said Eills.

“Having many eyes on something can be a good thing,” she said. “It’s good to have the neighbors’ input. A red flag was raised, and we responded to it.”

The memorial garden, often called a peace garden, is being built on a former playground area dating to when the church hosted a daycare program.

“It’s our way of preserving the environment and creating a place where people can sit down and experience God’s presence,” the church’s Rev. Jacob Kanoke said of the planned garden last month.

“It’s another way of respecting God’s creation,” he told the Weekly News then.

Eills said the Town expects to hear soon from Sunshine Tree Care, retained to review the matter. She said the arborist will also be asked to study the Town’s current tree code to determine if it needs to be revised.

Mayor Marna Hanneman, who attended as an audience member, said she has conferred with Kanoke and the volunteer workers.

No one from the church attended last Tuesday’s meeting, however.

“We retained an arborist, an impartial third party,” said Hanneman. “That’s all we can do at this point.”

Hanneman reported she represented La Conner at the recent White Rock, B.C. Torchlight Parade.

“As we went down the street, people yelled ‘We love La Conner,’” Hanneman stated. “We were very well received.”

La Conner and White Rock have enjoyed sister city status for several years. Hanneman thanked planning commissioner John Leaver for having re-established the link between the two communities. Interaction between La Conner and White Rock had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the U.S.-Canada border was closed.

First Street downtown will convert to one-way southbound traffic Oct. 9 Eills announced near the end of the meeting.

“There will be a huge informational campaign on this in September,” she said, “so that it won’t come as a surprise to anyone.”

Eills also reported that data from a recent traffic count study has been forwarded to Skagit County for analysis.

“We’re hoping to have that (analysis) before the end of August,” she said.