SEATTLE — An early-morning door knock roused a snoozing Rebecca Thorley. In the winter chill at her door stood a friendly City of Seattle worker. He gave a heads-up about upcoming street painting in advance of some work on the property across the street, a place Thorley admired for its towering grove of trees.

“What’s going on?” Thorley recalled asking.

“A development,” the city worker said.

“Are you sure?” Thorley asked.

“He said, ‘Sadly, yes,’” Thorley recalled of the doorstep conversation.

“I got a sinking feeling in my stomach,” Thorley said.

Worried about the birds and bunnies that inhabited the property and about losing shade from the trees, Thorley dove into online research. She emailed the city. She contacted neighbors. Thorley, an attorney, agreed to represent a neighbor liv

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