City To Host Community West Third Street Tree Replanting
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Years after the city removed the historic "cathedral oaks" on West Third Street, the city is preparing to host a community tree planting day this Saturday as part of the street's redesign plan.
Making a special appearance at Monday's City Council work session, Dan Stone, Parks Department manager, announced that following the recent reconstruction of West Third Street, the city is preparing to plant new trees along the street.
"As everybody here probably knows, we cut down the oak trees on West Third Street three or four years ago now," he said. "We're looking to invite you all to come with us next Saturday at 9:00 a.m. We're going to be shutting down the road and planting between 32 and 36 trees on the stretch from Hall Avenue to Hallock Street."
Saturday's tree planting event will begin at the Healing Word Ministries Church on the corner of Cook Avenue and West Third Street. Following a brief ceremony recognizing the 42nd consecutive year of Jamestown being recognized as a "Tree City USA" by the Arbor Day Foundation, community members will be invited to help plant the new trees. The Parks Department is asking attendees to bring their own shovel if they are able to, since the Parks Department will have a limited number of shovels available.
"It's going to be different than what Third Street was," Stone said. "It's different now; it's beautiful. The sidewalks are all redone, the lights are hanging; it's looking nice. We're going to plant four different varieties of trees up there. We're going to go with some different sizes and shapes to give us a little bit more of a flow through the entranceway into the city."
The new trees on West Third Street will be a combination of four different tree types, including Columnar Sargent Cherry trees, Columnar Oaks, Frontier American Elms and Sun Valley Red Maple trees. While the new trees will be different than the previous oak trees that were iconic to West Third Street, Stone said the Columnar Oak trees will carry on the oak tree theme for the street, while the other trees will provide a nice variety for residents to enjoy for years to come.
"It should be really nice in the fall when everything's changing, they'll change about the same time and we'll have a nice red color going right down the street," Stone said. "Thanks to the Board of Public Utilities for retrofitting the poles that we received. Hopefully, we'll be decorating those at Christmas time. We'll be looking at putting some hardware on there, so we can start hanging American flags as well to continue the theme of what we have going in the downtown corridor."
Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city is "very excited" to continue its tradition of being considered a "Tree City USA."
"Adding some additional trees is going to be really great," he said. "I know that space looks a little different now, but it will certainly pop as soon as we have those new trees."
Asked about the current size of the trees that will be planted, Stone said the trees are "decent sized trees," with some of the oak trees already 10 to 12 feet tall.
"Mature size is what we're looking at, and they will not be anywhere near what the Red Oaks or Pin Oaks that were on Third Street," he said. "You're looking at a maximum size on any of these from 35 to 40 feet as compared to 80 or 85 feet. Those are the Columnar ones. With the biggest spread on that, you're looking at probably 30 feet, which is 15 feet on either side of the tree, instead of close to 100 in spread on what we had on some of those oaks."
Stone added that the timing of planting the trees impacts the likelihood that the trees will thrive the first year they are planted. He explained that if the city had planted the trees in the past few weeks, the trees would have been "zapped" by frost or even salt, which would have negatively impacted the growth of the young trees.
"We're thinking the spring is the best time," he said. "Give them the summer to go through, and it should turn out really beautiful."