About 60 percent of the trees in the 2-acre downtown park are slated for removal. Burlington officials want to plant 14 new trees and cut down trees that are in “declining health,” as part of the park restoration project. Construction could begin in summer 2019 if the plan is approved.
Members of Keep the Park Green, a citizens group, oppose plans to remove 32 of the 56 trees in the park.
Donna Walters and Carolyn Bates, members of Keep the Park Green, have asked the city to put a hold on the work “until a neutral arborist studies all trees.”
”All of us would be well advised to follow their advice and redesign so the trees get the best protection we can afford them,” Walters and Bates said on the Keep Park Green Facebook page. “Do not cut them down regardless of their actual health.”
Keep the Park Green members attended a walk through the park Friday with City Arborist V.J. Comai, who explained why many of trees are unhealthy. Comai has been on the job for about two weeks.
“The question is becoming what trees will go and what trees will stay,” Comai said in an interview.
Walters wants the city to evaluate the health of all of the trees in the park.
“Not all of the 56 trees in the park were assessed,” Walters said. “Only the trees on the chopping block. We want to know the health of each and every tree, especially since the new plan proposes to cut 60 percent of the mature shade trees. Planting 14 saplings does not come close to replacing 32 mature shade trees. It takes decades for a sapling to mature. There are nine healthy trees slated to be cut. These include a grouping of crab apples on the west side steps of City Hall.”
Keep the Park Green members have marked trees to be removed in the park with ribbons and paper hearts.
The city has fielded a number of emails critical of the large-scale tree removal.
“I see the ribbons on the trees and I am upset,” wrote Sherry Coburn and Steve Sharon. “Please, I urge you; this is not the direction I want to see our park take. I did review the plans for the new park prior, but I did not realize it meant removal of so many trees.”
Flynn Center Executive Director John Killacky attended last month’s Design Review Board meeting. He wanted to see if the proposed design met with city codes. The issue has become “polarized,” Killacky said, but he is supportive of the city’s proposal.
“I like the design we have now,” he said. “I feel the City Hall Park should be a thruway” to other parts of the city.
The city’s proposal keeps the farmer’s market in the park, but booths would be relocated to streets and sidewalks on park edges to prevent damage to the central lawn, which will be used for seating. Park hardscape is proposed to increase by one-third.
Monique Fordham, another member of the citizens group, said “No one wants to sit in the broiling sun in the middle of the summer.”
The city’s proposal and board agendas can be found on the city web site, www.burlingtonvt.gov.
