LANGLEY — The trees damaged during construction on a new fire hall in Langley may survive if the city administers life-saving first aid, Langley’s planning director told city council members Wednesday night.

“The good news is the damage seems to be ‘correctable.’ I hate to use the word because it’s not, but the damage won’t take away from a long life of the trees,” said Larry Cort, director of community planning.

He added the city would take first steps to rescue the trees Thursday.

An arborist, hired by the contractor on the construction project, checked out the damage Wednesday and said the trees needed to be watered immediately. Growth-boosting soils also needed to be brought in, and the damaged roots had to be cut and sealed to avoid rotting.

Further steps may come out of the report that the city expected from the arborist by the end of this week, Cort added.

City staff was happy to hear that the trees have a chance of survival. Langley has been abuzz with residents who are angry that the landmark Douglas firs and Western red cedars along Camano Avenue may not survive the construction phase of the fire hall and park-and-ride project.

“There were a lot of sad faces around city hall about this,” Cort said.

Controversy erupted after the trees were damaged recently during construction work. Residents discovered that the roots of four 80- to 100-year-old trees were severed when workers dug a ditch. When city staff went out to assess the damage, they found workers had started to install an irrigation system that hadn’t been approved by the city.

The city sent a letter to the contractor last week telling the Mount Vernon architectural firm that it had until July 18 to have an arborist check out the damage, issue a report and take first steps to right the problem.

The contractor, Carletti Architects, did not return repeated requests for comment by The Record.

The issue was especially painful to residents, because the builders had promised to preserve the trees.

The agencies involved in the project were also angry.

“Island Transit and the fire district were as upset, if not more, than we were,” Cort said.

Some questioned the qualifications of the arborist.

Councilman Robert Gilman wanted to know what qualifications the specialist had. Cort said he didn’t know much about the arborist except that he was from the mainland.

But Cort added that if the city isn’t satisfied with the arborist’s report, it would request a peer review and charge the contractor for the service.

Several audience members questioned why a local specialist wasn’t consulted. Cort said the city had no say in who was hired for the job.

Audience member Dane Anderson said he is a local certified arborist, and he stressed that any measures had to be taken fast because the trees were at risk of drying out in the hot weather.

Jim Sundberg, the newly appointed Planning Advisory Board chairman, said he had observed that one of the ditches had already been filled with a miscellaneous mix that also included sand.

“Sand is worse than no fill at all,” he said.

He also said it was unfortunate that the problem wasn’t detected sooner.

“I, myself, am somewhat at fault,” he said. “I get off the bus at the fairgrounds every day and I didn’t think to look until it was too late.”

Sundberg had also sent a two-page letter to the city outlining short-term and long-term solutions to safe the trees, but also policy work to prevent further mishaps in the future.

The incident left a bitter taste for some residents. Rhonda Salerno called for more oversight of projects in general – and not just the fire hall construction.

“Basically, developers are not doing what they said they would be doing,” she said. “Right now, there are all kinds of these things.”

Sundberg questioned the purpose of an irrigation system — approved or not — for the site and found many supporters in the audience when he requested a critical review of such projects.

The incident led to the revival of a two-year-old ordinance that had, until now, gone nowhere.

Mayor Paul Samuelson said the “Heritage Tree Ordinance” will be revived. He held up a thick folder of work that had already been done for the ordinance.

“We don’t want to have a repeat of this situation,” Cort added.