A 900-year-old Pierce County tree may be cut down for a new semi-truck parking lot

The city of Lakewood is considering approving permits that would allow a landowner to cut down an oak tree at least 900 years old to make way for a semi-truck parking lot.

When The News Tribune visited the site in the industrial Woodbrook neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, birds could be heard chirping in the giant branches of the tree.

The 3.8 acre vacant lot was filled with stumps. Sometime between 2023 and 2024, the property owner cut down 70 trees at 7319 146th St. SW without a permit, public records show. The city of Lakewood fined the owner $1,130,724 for “malicious cutting,” but that fine was reduced to $346,920, according to the Jan. 5 letter.

According to a Jan. 16 city memo, the Emerson Lake Business Park has proposed expanding a truck and trailer parking lot adjacent to an existing lot in the industrial business park. Representatives for applicant Jason Hubbell and landowner Jane Yin, as well as Emerson Lake Business Park, did not respond to The News Tribune’s requests for comment. Tax records show the property is assessed at $1.6 million as of 2025.

City communications manager Kelly Kahler said the original $1,130,724 fine was based on a preliminary estimate of potential impacts at a time when the city did not have access to the property for full verification. According to municipal code, the applicant was requested information on how many trees were removed, how large they were, and an update on the tree survey to determine the corresponding abatement fee, Kahler said.

Emerson Lake Business Park is trying to get a retroactive tree removal permit that would address cutting those 70 trees without authorization, Kahler said. Three other permits to develop the parcel are under review, including a conditional use permit, which will be decided by a hearing examiner, Kahler said. A public hearing has not been scheduled for Feb. 6, she said.

Lakewood resident Christina Manetti, founder of the Garry Oak Coalition nonprofit, said the largest tree she’s ever seen in Lakewood is 900 years old. It is 60 inches in diameter, according to the 2025 Environmental Assessment for Emerson Lake Business Park completed by Soundview Consultants LLC. That means before Genghis Khan was born, before Gothic cathedrals were built, before the Italian Renaissance, Manetti said. It may be more than 900 years old.

An environmental assessment of trees and wetlands indicated that the large Oregon white oak (or Garry oak) had “little to no defects” and a “full and healthy” canopy of some invasive ivy. The canopy measured 5,012 square feet. As previously reported by The News Tribune, Gary Oaks has secured local and statewide positions.

Under the City of Lakewood’s municipal code, developers must submit tree-retention plans, landscape plans and irrigation plans to the city before any building or land-use permits are approved.

Manetti is not a scientist but a concerned citizen who monitors development proposals in the city and has a passion for conservation.

“This [tree] It is very old. And to even consider cutting it is really shocking,” Manetti said. “It’s right next to a wetland, which is also protected … it’s important for water infiltration. It is important for carbon sequestering, cleaning the water we drink. “

She pointed to a large Amazon warehouse next door, with a large parking lot.

“Especially with these things that they’re building around here, all these impervious surfaces that they’re adding and all the runoff,” Manetti said. “It’s terrible to remove trees that help reduce the damage that these types of things cause.”

Nine residents, including Manetti, testified at the Feb. 2 Lakewood City Council meeting in favor of saving trees and wetlands. Some reminded the council that in 2022 the city made the Garry Oak the official tree of Lakewood. The city aims to cover 40 percent of the citywide tree canopy by 2050.