August 28, 2013 Dear 4th Street Business Owners, City of Bremerton Downtown Business Association and Interested

Parties; Earlier this year a request was made to remove the trees along 4th Street between Pacific Avenue and Washington Avenue. A Public round table discussion was held in May and the community was split regarding what to do with the trees. Business owners are in favor of removal and replacement with something more appropriate, however residents are opposed of removal at all. City Staff is concerned about root heaving, branches breaking and weakening from past pruning of the trees. Root pruning of the current trees was considered a risk considering the integrity of the trees balance and structure. The City received two arborist reports which indicate that the trees should be removed and replaced with appropriate type and sized street trees. An outcome of the Community Meeting is that the business owners on 4th Street would like to see the street be returned to a two-way street. Currently the City does not have plans to change 4th Street into a two-way street. The City understands that there is talk among the Business owners to form a Local Improvement District (LID) to consider such a project. A discussion of the 4th Street Trees was held at the July 24, 2013 Tree Committee meeting. The Committee indicated that if tree removal is going to be considered, should we go to the expense of replacement if in a few years the street is constructed to accommodate the return of two-way traffic. It was suggested by the committee to prune the current trees until further plans are made. An estimate of time for future plans would be in one to five years. Pruning the current trees will take approximately two days with a street closure for clean-up. A motion was made and approved by the Tree Committee to postpone tree replacement on 4th Street and to re-visit in a year, with a current plan to prune trees at a later date. In an effort to keep you apprised, we have posted the Tree Committee Meeting Minutes on the Citys website, http://www.ci.bremerton.wa.us/articles.php?id=2050. The Tree committee will continue meeting to update the 1997 Master Tree Plan and to assist with tree issues, concerns and programs throughout the City. We appreciate your participation through this process. Thank you, Bremerton Tree Committee
Arno Bergstrom, Tom Brobst, John Albers, Bill McKinney, Milenka Bates, Tom Cressman, Wyn Birkenthal, Don Larson. John Hayes Larson

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Public Works & Utilities 100 Oyster Bay Ave. N., Bremerton, WA 98312 * Phone (360) 473-5333 * Fax (360) 473-5018