Broken Promises - The Cautionary Tale of Peach Circle and Birch Bluff

Many Shorewood residents know the sad story of Peach Circle, a situation where the city failed to balance the needs of the city and the character of Shorewood against the rapacious desires of developers. Below is a summary provided by a user. It's a good reminder that the city's view of what Shorewood should be and resident's often are not the same, and that once the city's character and environment are sacrificed, there is no going back.

Editor's note: after we published this piece, we were informed about a very similar situation on Birch Bluff Rd. - city promises about protecting trees broken.

"Two residents on Peach Circle were shocked to discover that an adjacent Smithtown Road property owner had requested a subdivision and variance for the construction of a new home immediately behind the Peach Circle properties. 

The two Peach Circle residents had already experienced the unnecessary and disasterous removal of over 1000 mature trees including stands of great white pine immediately behind their homes. The City saved but 1 tree, despite the resident’s pleas. 

The Smithtown Road property owner asked the City to ignore their inability to come even close to City building code but they claimed a phantom hardship exception and were granted variance  approval by both the Planning Commission and the City Council. A variance is proof that the City does not always follow the letter of the law, and a variance for the public to deny a letter of the law development is a fair, legal and ethical balance. 

Some Planning Commission members and City Council members did oppose the development and the majorities voting for the development specifically stipulated conditions including a tree preservation plan and a buffer to shield Peach Circle properties.

The Smithtown property clear cut 100 trees including over 20 trees listed on the preservation plan, violating the law and all conditions meant to protect local neighbors.  Many trees on the tree registry were not Ash and were destroyed. Six spindly trees were all that remained from a fully wooded wildlife centric piece of land that should never have been developed. 

As of today, the two Peach Circle homeowners continue to negotiate for a buffer and a habitat that they were promised but denied. The Smithtown property owner failed to live up to the wishes of their neighbors and the requirements of the City to preserve trees and provide a substantial buffer. The City of Shorewood completely failed to communicate effectively with the perpetrators,  completely failed to ensure proper planning documents and preservation plans, completely failed to supervise and inspect and protect the development, and completely failed to publicly address what went wrong and why. 

Even if the damaged homeowners benefit from new negotiated plantings and buffers, which is likely but not assured, the unnecessary complete  loss of a rich and dense treed ecology cannot be replaced, the harm done can never be repaired, and trust in the City can never be restored. Over 1000 trees lost without justification and a 20ft City easement overgrown with weeds is the City legacy."