Making plans to address downtown trees

The City of Shelton staff is recommending the city remove or replace up to nine trees, permanently remove three more, and add five missing trees to the downtown corridor, mostly on West Railroad Avenue.

The Shelton City Council discussed the trees May 23 at a study session.

In September 2021, Sound Urban Forestry of Olympia completed an assessment of Shelton's downtown street trees. The assessment recommended the city develop a removal and replacement plan, because root cutting and sidewalk replacement and grinding are only temporary solutions. The City Council in January 2022 asked staff to research how the street tree replacement would affect elements of the city's 2016 Downtown Visioning Plan.

Sound Urban Forestry recommended the city prioritize 22 trees that need to be replaced "as soon as possible." Eight trees were deemed a "medium" priority, with sidewalk grinding recommended for now and removal and replacement in three to five years when money is available. Five were deemed low priority, with plans to remove or replace in five to eight years.

Last June, Jones and Jones Architecture presented the city with a streetscape plan on trees, parking and sidewalks downtown that would cost several million dollars, with no current funding source identified.

"We decided that was quite expensive to do, and so we need some shorter-term solutions," said Jay Harris, the city's Public Works director. The tree recommendations mirror those of the arborist recommendations, Harris said.

Most of the trees downtown are select Cleveland pear trees.

"The trees are 20 years old," Harris said. "They weren't planted with root barriers, which is pretty much the standard now." The tree roots "are searching for water and nutrients and such," he said.

Arborists say the roots are pushing up sidewalks, and only a certain amount of grinding can be done, "so there needs to be the next level of planning here," Harris said.

The proposed actions on the trees is "short term, in the next 10 years, we should be alright with these," he said.

Interim City Manager Mark Ziegler said he is looking for a concensus from the council members on the tree proposals, not necessarily considering them tree by tree.

"I think the recommendations are a good start," said Mayor Eric Onisko.

Brent Armstrong, the city's Public Works superintendent, said the proposal includes removing one in front of Key Bank, one at the corner of Third Street and Railroad Avenue, and at Fifth and Railroad.

Missing trees proposed for replacement include in front of the Mason County Historical Museum, near the Tolle train, and at Railroad and First Street, he said.