Groups hear ideas about Hartsville’s downtown trees
By JIM FAILE
Discussions continue about what to do about the trees that make up Hartsville�s downtown treescape and the problems they are posing as two committees met Wednesday to look for solutions.
The city�s Parking, Beautification and Business Improvement Commission agreed to solicit bids to have the trees along Carolina Avenue and Fifth Street trimmed. The trees have not been trimmed in about two years, said Phil Gardner, director of the city�s Parks and Leisure Services Department.
Some downtown business owners say the trees hide their storefronts and signs and in some cases are encroaching into awnings and building fronts.
The panel also recommended having a description of the work that needs to be done on the trees drawn up for whoever gets the job to include trimming, shaping and removing dead limbs and branches.
�We don�t want the trees butchered,� said Carol Ann Godwin, newly elected chairman of the commission.
A longer-term issue is what to do about the damage being caused to sidewalks, brickwork and underground utilities as the trees grow.
The downtown treescape includes 86 trees, Gardner said.
Most of the trees were planted in 1995 and 1996 but were planted improperly, Gardner said. The metal wire wrap around the root ball of each tree was left on when they were planted. Each of the trees on the streets is set in a 5-foot-by-5-foot area enclosed with brick borders.
The roots are growing up, leaving the trees root bound and lifting up and breaking sections of sidewalk and damaging brickwork. In some cases the roots are girdling or encircling the tree trunk and eventually will kill the tree, Gardner said.
The trees are also creating liability issues for the city. Gardner said there have been instances when people have tripped and fallen over broken areas of sidewalk, exposing the city to potential lawsuits.
In addition, several business owners have put the city on notice that if one of the trees damages their building, they will hold the city responsible, Gardner said.
�It�s a massive mess in that 5-by-5 square,� said Stephen Wild, the city�s arborist. He said the roots are so dense in the squares that workers can�t insert a spade into dirt in the square.
The planters in which the trees are set are described as concrete boxes with a hole in the bottom for drainage.
Wild said city workers plan to excavate the root system of one tree to look at it and get a better idea of the extent of the problem.
He said it may be possible to create more space for the roots to expand downward underground and keep the trees.
City officials say if the trees have to be removed some, but maybe not all, would be replaced.
Eliminating the trees completely would remove 15 years of shade in the downtown area and raise temperatures in the downtown area from 10 to 15 degrees, officials said.
The city�s Treescape Task Force also met Wednesday and heard ideas from urban landscape architect Bill Eubanks, creative director with Urban Edge Studio in Mount Pleasant.
Urban Edge Studio is a specialized focus group of SeamonWhiteside+Associates and is a design oriented arm of the company that focuses on urban design in the form of new urbanist planning, infill design, town and city redevelopment and campus planning.
Eubanks said landscape architecture has advanced much since Hartsville�s downtown treescape was put in place. �I think the profession has learned a lot about streetscapes in the last 15 years,� he said.
Eubanks said the average live span of a tree in a downtown streetscape is about 15 years. �After that, they either decline or they continue to grow and cause sidewalk issues and other problems,� he said.
�The question is how much longer can you keep going like you are now,� he said.
Eubanks recommended that the city have a site analysis of the downtown trees done before anything else to determine the best approach for addressing the issue.
Most of the trees appear to be healthy and growing well and several panel members expressed a desire to preserve as many of them as possible � if possible.
�Every town should be looking toward their next generation of trees,� he said. �You need a strategy that�s going to serve you for the next 20 to 25 years.�
The city has no money in its new budget for such a study, Gardner said. He said the S.C. Department of Transportation could do a study at no cost to the city. But he also pointed out that it was SCDOT that approved the original streetscape plan and the planting of the trees.
Gardner said he would talk with Interim City Manager Vern Myers about how to proceed.