Advocates make the case to save tree on Greenwich Avenue
GREENWICH — Advocates turned out in force to support a tree slated for removal at 235 Greenwich Ave. as part of a planned intersection improvement project.
“This tree is very substantial, and it’s part of a beautiful streetscape coming down Greenwich Avenue,” Lucy Krasnor said at a public hearing held Thursday on Zoom on the fate of the tree. “Without it would be kind of a grand, empty space. I don’t think we want that. I think in every project in town lately, all anyone is thinking of is removing trees, and I’m very upset about that.”
Tori Sandifer, who said she walks past the tree in front of the TD Bank every morning, added, “It is quite a nice tree, and it would take decades for another tree to even come close to comparing to it.”
The project calls for “bump outs” of the existing curbs and raising the intersection and shortened crosswalks at Elm Street. The Pin Oak would come down so handicap accessible parking with direct access to the sidewalk could be built.
Town Senior Civil Engineer Jason Kaufman defended the project, saying it would enhance pedestrian and traffic safety as well as add more than 1,800 square feet of new green space at the intersection. New trees, he said, could be added.
“This will start to build a sense of place along Greenwich Avenue once again,” Kaufman said. The DPW would work with the Department of Parks and Recreation to come up with “a great landscape plan that will really have a great benefit to the town.”
Town Superintendent of Trees Gregory Kramer said he will issue his decision within three business days. That decision can be appealed within 10 days to Stamford Superior Court.
An evaluation of the tree found it is in “declining health” with an uncertain life expectancy, Kramer said, but it is not in “imminent danger.” Greenwich Tree Conservancy member Francia Alvarez asked whether there had been an effort to tend to its health.
“It could use an influx of fertilization, but I don’t know if that would necessarily save the tree,” Kramer said. “It is in decline at this point.”
The list of speakers at the hearing was heavily tilted toward saving the tree. Multiple speakers praised the project but urged the town to find a way to keep the tree while also improving the intersection and the accessibility.
“This is a wonderful upgrade to the very busy intersection,” said John Conte, a landscape architect, licensed arborist, vice chair of the town Architectural Review Committee and a tree conservancy advisory board member.
“But I’d also like to be a very strong advocate for working around this tree and plead with our engineering department” that the town change its mindset on projects that “if a tree happens to be in the way, well OK, that tree gets a red X through it,” he said. “We have to start designing around these trees. There are so few left.”
Advocates for the tree urged the town to put the handicap accessible parking spot in a different location, but Kaufman said that would be difficult.
The site is the “most viable and most sensible” location, he said, because it would provide safe access directly to the sidewalk through a curb cut.
“ADA codes are very stringent to a very minimal slope,” Kaufman said. “A half an inch or an inch makes a big difference. There would be additional cost, too, because we would need additional sidewalk, additional curbing and additional pavement.”
Stephanie Cowie, vice chair of the First Selectman’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities and a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair, spoke on the need for the parking spot. In traveling around town, Cowie said she has found that most handicap spaces aren’t truly accessible.
“Just because it is identified as a handicap space, it doesn’t mean it’s compliant,” Cowie said. “Whether I’m attempting to park or out of my vehicle traversing the sidewalks or crosswalks in my wheelchair, the stress level is very high. The unknown and the known is troublesome.
“Having the opportunity to work with DPW on this project had provided me with a true sense of hope,” she said. “This proposed design of the Elm Street intersection provides me a sense of comfort knowing when I park I no longer have to roll my wheelchair into oncoming Greenwich Avenue traffic. I will now be able to access the sidewalk and crosswalk safely in a space that is to code.”
JoAnn Messina, executive director of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, noted she was the sole caregiver of her late husband when he used a wheelchair and said, “I first-hand understand the need for ADA compliance.
“But I also see the need and the health benefits for trees, more specifically mature trees, more specifically in urban areas,” Messina said. “We seem to forget how many benefits these trees are giving,”
But it would cost more “if we expand this project farther to the north,” Kaufman said.
Peter Malkin, chairman of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, said that if the extra cost for the $200,000 project is the only concern, that private money could be raised to make up the difference. Malkin also pledged to raise private money to fertilize the tree in the spring.
The hope is to start the project, which is slated to take eight to 12 weeks, in mid-March, but that depends on the weather, Deputy DPW Commissioner James Michel said.
The project has already received the approvals it needs from the Board of Selectmen and the Planning and Zoning Commission.