Project on MI synagogue’s land prompts concerns about trees

Published 5:13 pm Wednesday, April 1, 2026

The Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation and the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle are preparing to break ground on the Barnabie Point Project — featuring a new K-8 school and office building — on Mercer Island later this month, but some residents have concerns about several aspects of the project.

One resident feels that the legal removal of trees may put students at risk in the area within an erosion and landslide zone. Another resident feels the city isn’t making the synagogue plant the requisite number of replacement trees. Both residents requested anonymity for this story.

Concerns regarding parking and traffic also arose in other residents’ comments to the design review committee. Some Islanders also touched upon a few of the aforementioned issues at a pair of city council meetings.

“We’ve been very compliant with everything and we have talked to the neighbors on several occasions,” said Barnabie Point Project Chair Dr. Audrey Covner. “They have shown up at the city reviews of this and stated their opposition, which is their right to do.”

The new three-story building will sit on Herzl-Ner Tamid synagogue’s land at 3700 E. Mercer Way and will house the Jewish Day School and offices that they will share with other Jewish nonprofit organizations, including security. The B-zoned parcel is 26,745 square feet and the building lot coverage is 53% or 14,070 square feet.

Covner, who is a past president of Herzl and is leading the project’s fundraising charge, addressed several of the issues that residents brought forward.

On the tree front, 65 trees were removed in late March with 15% in good condition, 65% in fair condition and 20% in critical condition.

“We have the right to do it. We got the permit. It took us a long time. We complied with a lot of stuff from the city, including the trees. And we’re just excited that we’re ready to go and build this and have it be useful land for all of us,” said Covner, adding that they kept a number of old-growth trees and placed a fence around the entire site and around the trees to keep them protected.

“The trees were removed under an approved permit consistent with the adopted tree regulations in the Mercer Island Municipal Code for the Herzl project. The city has no further comment,” reads an email to the Reporter from the city.

Covner noted that for every tree they took down, the city required them to plant six additional trees or pay an amount in lieu of planting the trees (as noted in the city tree code). Because they don’t have the space to plant the full six additional trees, they paid the city almost a half-million dollars to help the city plant trees in other places on the Island.

The project’s “Tree Stewardship” document notes that the synagogue will plant approximately 30 new trees on its site.

She said that residents were concerned about the trees for a long time and the synagogue was, too. They’re paying to send some of the trees in decent condition out to have them milled down into wood to be used for projects — such as a bench or deck — on the synagogue land.

As for the erosion control measures, city requirements include installing tree protection fencing at drip-lines or beyond before any work was to begin on the property; installing a silt fence (and cleaning and regularly maintaining the fence); controlling silt runoff; stabilizing the entrance with quarry spalls to prevent sediment from leaving the site or entering the storm drains and more.

Covner said they’ll be working with the nearby Stroum Jewish Community Center and French American School of Puget Sound to coordinate driving times to try to minimize traffic as much as possible.

Thus far, the project is nearing the 83% mark of its fundraising goal that it started moving toward in 2022.

“It’s been phenomenal. The community has really stepped up to help us build something that really hasn’t been built anywhere else in the Puget Sound where we’ve had a coordinated effort between two organizations who came together to create a new entity and a deal that benefits everybody. And there will be other Jewish organizations there to share and to help us grow,” Covner said.

A groundbreaking event will take place on April 28, and they hope to have the school ready for use by the summer of 2027.