Beaufort group questions oak tree removal. Here’s what the city said
The removal of single tree in downtown Beaufort is spurring a call from the city’s tree advisory committee for more power. The city stands by the decision, saying it was necessary to facilitate a major storm drainage project.
A live oak was removed near the entrance to Waterfront Park in preparation for the beginning of a $9.7 million stormwater improvement project.
It’s raising questions from many residents about the city’s processes for cutting down big trees and whether alternatives were considered. Former mayor Stephen Murray called the removal of the tree “a shame” in a post on Facebook that drew 120 comments.
“It doesn’t seem like any other options were considered,” Murray told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet later. “There needs to be clarity in the future on the process the city has to apply to remove trees of some certain size.”
Raul Dominguez, the city’s capital improvements program director, said the tree was removed because the drainage project would have cut through the median where it is located. If left standing, the pipe would have affected the roots of the tree, he said, and the tree would have eventually died.
The controversy over the removal of the tree prompted the city’s Park and Tree Advisory Commission (PTAC) to schedule a special meeting at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Members asked for top city officials to appear before them to explain the reasoning behind cutting down the tree.
Its removal on Monday comes as PTAC members were already discussing ways in which the committee can beef up its role in tree preservation, said Michael Anderson, a member of the committee.
Currently, the group makes recommendations related to parks and trees but has no enforcement authority. It was scheduled to make a presentation to the city council Tuesday, before the flap over the storm drainage tree was removed.
“We’re seeking more teeth than we have because apparently we’re just gumming everybody to death,” said Anderson, adding he’s been inundated with calls and texts asking “where PTAC was” in regard to the tree.
Dominguez, the capital improvements program director, said the PTAC was briefed on the removal. He added that the tree’s removal was in the master plan for the storm drainage project and discussed twice at public meetings in September and October.
Anderson, the PTAC member, said members asked for a presentation for the benefit of the public. He says PTAC members also have questions about the presentation that board was given in October about the removal of the tree, which he says is 39 inches in diameter, which is the distance through the tree or about 10 feet around.
“It’s really important to make sure we have these checks and balances,” he said. “These things, once they are removed, you can’t get it back.”
On Friday, city workers were busy decorating the city Christmas tree in Waterfront Park. The “clip-clop” of horses hooves on the streets could be heard as tourists in horse-drawn carriages toured the downtown neighborhoods to learn about the city’s rich history.
Five blocks of 100-year-old pipe 15 feet underground will be replaced with 72-inch pipes in 60- to 80-foot-long sections. It will improve drainage collected along Charles, North, Craven and Port Republic streets, where flooding is common, to the Beaufort River, Dominguez said.
Before the fuss over the tree, the closure of the intersection of Bay and Charles street for the stormwater drainage project had already riled downtown business owners. They feared it would reduce traffic right before the holidays. The closure at Bay and Charles had been planned later in the project, after the holidays, but the starting point was switched after city officials determined it was best to begin the work at Charles and Bay street for engineering reasons.
Ken Goff of Aiken, who was visiting the city with his wife, Cristel, was trying to find his way onto Bay Street Friday after parking in the marina parking lot. If he had not visited the city before, he said, “I’d be very confused.”
But, Goff added, “If you have a drainage problem, you have to fix it.”
Replacing 100-year-old pipe with bigger pipe will improve outflow of stormwater when it rains. But the project is complex because it involves digging up roads with 40-foot right-of-ways to reach old pipe 15 feet deep, using very large equipment including two imposing excavators, Dominguez said.
“This is an old city,” Dominguez said. “There’s a lot of things underground. Nobody knows what’s there. Each step of the way has to be slow, concise. And if you run across anything that may look like a piece of history, then we have to stop and bring the archeologist in, and they do their research on the piece of material that’s found, which could stop the project for one day or a week depending on what’s found. So it’s really tedious work.”
