Sylva's street committee hears concerns about Main St. trees

By Lynn Hotaling

Sylva Manager Richard McHargue and maintenance foreman Jack Tolley expressed misgivings about the maple trees planted along Main Street during the 1998 streetscape project to street committee members Eldridge Painter and Danny Allen. Committee member Eldon Cabe was not present.

The Red Sunset maples planted in pods as part of the streetscape "have long been a concern of the town staff with regard to what they'll do when they grow up," McHargue said.

Left unpruned, the trees will grow to a height of 30 to 40 feet and have a root spread of similar size, McHargue said.

Looking at the trees from a maintenance standpoint, town personnel are concerned about damage to the street and sidewalks and invasion of the roots into sewer lines, McHargue said.

"If we don't do something, we may end up with a maintenance problem," McHargue said.

Rick Queen, roadside environmental engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation, discussed the situation with Tolley, McHargue said.

According to a Jan. 1 letter from Queen to McHargue, the Red Sunset maples planted on Main Street could reach a height of 45 to 50 feet and a width of 35 to 40 feet but probably will not, given their restricted location.

"The trees on Main Street are planted in a confined growing area and will probably not reach this size because of the constricted space," Queen's letter states.

With regard to the trees' root growth, Queen's letter indicates that the confined area will also limit root spread and that copper sulfate will kill maple roots that invade sewer lines.

Queen's letter recommends town personnel contact the architect who designed the streetscape if they have concerns about the roots becoming a problem.

Russ Seagle, president of Sylva Partners in Renewal, the downtown revitalization group that spearheaded the streetscape project, was also present Jan. 9.

After hearing of the town's concerns about the trees, SPIR leaders passed a resolution opposing any immediate action concerning the trees and supporting further research into the matter, Seagle said.

Seagle contacted streetscape designer Bob Grasso of Asheville, who told him that identical trees had recently been planted in the median of an Asheville thoroughfare.

According to Seagle, Grasso said that Red Sunset maples were no more or less a threat than any other tree and have been approved by DOT officials for landscape plantings near paved streets.

Grasso agreed to send maintenance instructions for the maples that involve a process called "limbing," which Seagle described as the "periodic removal of a tree's longest limbs to keep the trees' straight-up shape." The process also aids in more straight-down root growth, Seagle said.

Back to Archive: 01/16/03.