Petition to Save McLean Tree Canopy

Thanks to the organizers of this petition. We need to protect our trees and the county needs to perform the duties we pay them to do and not those that the developers may be paying them to do!

Please stop cutting down our valuable trees.

Our trees are precious and can never be replaced. The developers ignor the rules and employ clear cutting which is unconscionable !

What is course of action

I support this petition and urge all residents and real estate agents to pledge not to sell property to anyone with plans to cut down any trees. Property owners should avoid selling to builders without a written commitment about the trees.

We moved into this neighborhood where my husband grew up for the beautiful trees and residents. Developers wanting to profit as much as they can, take every possible tree down understating the canopy at the beginning and overstating it at the end. They build within inches of the zoning restrictions and we could go on and on. They profit and live elsewhere and we have to live with the loss of 100+ year old trees and look into homes that can be built 8 feet from the property line.

In total agreement with the Petition

Please save out trees, this clear-cutting has gone on long enough.

What builders under the non-feasant eyes of our local government are destroying our neighborhood.

It's time to put a stop to the destruction of trees for the ease of development when they take generations to grow and county ordinances are being abused.

We moved into Chesterbrook Woods 18 years ago for the beautiful older, tall trees. We plan to be here another 20 years and believe it is up to our county and state governments to protect our environment.

Your comment was not removed. I am not sure why it no longer appears. Although I certainly agree that all members of the community should be do all that is possible to preserve the exiting tree canopy and to plant new trees, as you are well aware, the problem that we face with the loss of our tree canopy does not arise with our residents. To the contrary, the reason that this Petition became necessary is because of the wholesale removal of the tree canopy on property after property by the infill developers that have descended on our community. Those infill developers, without exception, have refused all efforts made by the CWCA Environmental Committee to work with them to preserve the tree canopy. Indeed, to date, no infill developer has agreed to preserve even a single tree that the County, which makes no real effort to enforce the Tree Conservation Ordinance, allowed them to remove. Any ideas that you have as to how we can work with infill developers to preserve our tree canopy would be much appreciated. Neil S. Ende Chairman CWCA Environmental Committee

What if all the houses in McLean were torn down, trees bulldozed, and new 7000+ sq ft homes went up? What if there were no trees, and each huge house was spitting distance from the other? Would you want to live in a town like that? The people who buy those homes assume others will keep their trees, so they clear all the trees on their lots. The people who buy those homes are like the parents who don't vaccinate their kids, assuming all the other conscientious citizens will maintain trees, so they can selfishly fell theirs.

We need the trees. That's why we are here.

Looks like my comment was removed....Why? I asked that we hold homeowners as well as developers to the same Fairfax County standards.

We need to preserve the tree to keep the environment of the neighborhood.

A developer is getting ready to remove trees on N Stuart Street to build a house entirely too large for the neighborhood. The residents have been trying to work with the county on numerous issues with this development and the county always sides with a he rights of the developer (who does not live in the area) over the families.

We recently underwent renovations and were able to maintain the tree cover. We have also replaced any trees which we have had to remove due to age or damage.

Thank you for your great efforts.

The CWCA Environmental Committee's goal is to foster practices that ensure that the environmental quality of our neighborhood is maintained and fostered. Thus, we endorse your suggestion that residents and builders alike act responsibly and do what they can to preserve our tree canopy. However, as you certainly know, the loss of our treasured tree canopy is most often not the byproduct of irresponsible activity by residents. Instead, the dramatic losses in our tree canopy are, overwhelmingly, the byproduct of infill developers who know that they can remove trees as they please, for convenience and/or profit (including selling whole trees to loggers), because the Fairfax County DPWES Staff does not scrutinize their building plans or their on-site activities to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Tree Preservation Ordinance. So, yes, while we agree that we should all do our part, Petitions like this one only became necessary when infill developers descended on our community and denuded lot after lot of virtually all the old growth trees. In this context, the Committee believes that it is appropriate to direct our dismay and our efforts, including through this Petition, at the parties who are the primary cause of the problem, and those parties are, undeniably, infill developers. (Comment placed by the CWCA Environmental Committee).