‘You Can’t Replace This’: North Portland Neighbors Held a Candlelight Vigil for a Century-Old Redwood Set to Come Down for Six New Homes

The house is more than 100 years old. The coastal redwood on the same North Portland site is older still, by one neighbor’s count: 126 years. Both are slated to go, according to KPTV, and neighbors in University Park held a candlelight vigil for the tree on the night of Nov. 11.

The Redwood and the Six-Home Plan

The University Park Neighborhood Association organized the vigil on Wednesday night, KPTV reported. A Bureau of Development Services notice shows the tree scheduled for removal, and the association says Greenwood Homes LLC plans to build new housing on the site. The city’s website lists several permits for the company as pending or under review on nearby plots.

KOIN, in a report carried by Yahoo News, described the tree as a coastal redwood about 100 years old and said the plans would replace the existing home and the tree with six single-family homes. Neighbor John Garofalo estimated the redwood’s age at 126.

Garofalo told KOIN the tree is irreplaceable. He said the city approved a deconstruction permit for the house, and that neighbors had earlier been told the tree would remain. About two weeks after the permit approval, he said, the tree was also slated for removal. In his words, the neighborhood was given two different answers by the city.

Garofalo, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, told KPTV the tree matters for its beauty, for its wildlife and for what it adds to the neighborhood. Residents are also trying to save the house on the site, the station reported, though the city notice it cited concerns the tree.

KOIN reported that neighbors expect the tree to come down later in November. Neither station gave a removal date, and KPTV said it had contacted the developer and the city without a response by publication. Both reports, published Nov. 11 and 12, describe the tree as still standing and scheduled for removal.

What Portland’s Tree Code Allows on a Building Site

Portland’s rules for trees on lots being redeveloped sit in Title 11 of the city code, Chapter 11.50. According to the chapter’s text on Portland.gov, the preservation standard for private trees of 12 inches or larger is to keep at least one-third of the nonexempt ones. A tree that is not preserved below that threshold triggers a payment into the Tree Planting and Preservation Fund. For trees 20 inches or larger, the chapter says nonexempt trees must be preserved unless a per-inch mitigation payment is made.

Heritage Trees and trees that a land use condition requires to be kept cannot be removed under the chapter. Exemptions include dead, dying, dangerous or nuisance trees documented in a tree plan, sites under 5,000 square feet and sites with 85 percent or more building coverage.

Public notice enters at the largest sizes. For trees 36 inches or larger that are not preserved, the code requires a sign posted on the site and written notice to the neighborhood association and district coalition, each at least 45 days before permit issuance. The chapter says those notices are for information only and do not allow public comment or appeal.

The city’s 2026 Tree Code Update page puts the same system in plainer terms. It says trees are not required to be preserved on development sites unless they are Heritage Trees, and that mitigation fees apply when a developer preserves less than one-third of healthy trees from 12 to 20 inches or none of the trees 20 inches and larger. It also says affordable housing, lots under 5,000 square feet and projects covering 85 percent or more of the lot are exempt from the preservation rules, and that those exemptions cover more than 80 percent of expected new housing. The page describes a roughly two-year review of the code, with City Council adoption expected after public review in 2027.

A separate permit path covers removals not tied to a building project. Under Section 11.40.050, taking out a healthy tree 20 inches or larger needs a Type B permit with inch-for-inch replacement and public notice and appeal, with a footnote that no notice or appeal applies to one healthy tree over 20 inches per lot per year in a residential zone. For development projects, Urban Forestry says on its building permit tree page that a tree plan must be included in a development permit application.

Neither report gives the redwood’s trunk diameter or says which review applies to it. Whether the notice requirement or a mitigation payment attaches to this tree depends on facts the coverage does not state.

What the Neighbors Are Asking For

The neighbors are not asking Portland to stop new homes. KOIN reported that they support more housing but question why a tree that took more than a century to grow must come down for it. Garofalo said neighbors want a discussion with city leaders about what infill development should look like and whether guardrails are possible.

A tree that took more than a century to grow cannot be rebuilt overnight, Garofalo said.

KPTV reported that neighbor Madeline Masters argued developers have a strong financial incentive to remove the features that make the city attractive. The association hopes to work with the builder and the City of Portland, according to the station. Steph Mohr, an association board member, said the group cannot stop this removal but wants to prevent similar losses in other neighborhoods.

The City of Portland’s Urban Forestry program, through its main page, lists a tree concerns section, an email address for questions at [email protected] and a phone line at 503-823-8733. For general city help, it lists 311 or 503-823-4000.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: “Coastal Redwood Trees” by Heidschi23 is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.