East of the River: When the Trees Leave

Image: East of the River

From East of the River:

When Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) Laneice Moore (8A04) started receiving calls from constituents worried about trees being cut down on the 1900 block of U St. SE near Fort Stanton Park, she was concerned. She wasn’t aware of any development planned for the block. A search of tree permits, available online through the District’s Urban Forestry Division, also came up empty for any potential U Street address.

Neighbors were worried someone was stealing the trees. “That’s private property –nobody should be tearing down those trees, there,” she recounted one person telling her.

But, as Moore discovered, everything being done was by the book – or, to be more accurate, DC’s laws on tree removal. The former owner and now developer of the property, Anthony Boticello of IDS Community Development, had applied for the permit using the property’s official address, 1808 Woodmont Pl. SE, and had paid over $152,000 in District fees to remove the trees in preparation for development of the site.