Grand trees part of uprooting of nearly quarter of Columbia park’s trees amid upgrade

White spray-painted Xs mark almost two dozen trees in Columbia’s Mays Park — nearly a quarter of the total number of trees at the community gathering site.

A total of 25 trees, from tall pines and proud oaks, have been marked for removal as the city works on an $850,000 revamp of the park. The city says the tree removal is necessary to upgrade the park’s stormwater system and make other improvements.

But residents say the densely shaded park is a gem because of the tree cover, and removing the trees will eliminate one of the park’s most beloved features.

“I guess you could call me a tree-hugger,” said Ryan Marshall, who goes to Mays Park almost daily to play tennis. He said he is happy to see the park being improved, but “I feel like the two aren’t mutually exclusive,” referring to upgrading the park and saving trees.

Marshall said he is particularly concerned about the removal of the trees given a recent study from the University of South Carolina that found Columbia’s overall tree canopy shrunk 22% from 2005 to 2019.

When Marshall learned that initial plans to renovate the park included the removal of 37 trees, he started a petition to try to save them. Residents seemed to agree with Marshall, with more than 300 people signing the documents and many writing heartfelt pleas to the city about the trees.

“I used to bring my children and grandchildren to Mays Park for its beauty and shade trees, which makes it cooler for the children,” wrote one resident.

“Grew up playing at Mays. Best memory was a tree (with the water spigot.) The shade made it the best park around,” wrote another.

“I have been going to Mays Park since I was a little girl. I can’t imagine the park without all of the beautiful trees. Please don’t chop them down,” yet another wrote.

Mays Park is tucked into a roughly 3-acre parcel at the intersection of Beltline Boulevard and Trenholm Road. It includes a tennis court, a playground and splash pad and a short walking trail. There are 29 “Grand” trees at the park, meaning trees that are 24 inches or wider in diameter for hardwood trees, or 30 inches for softwood trees. The initial plans would have removed four of these trees, now the city will remove three of them.

The city could not say how old any of the trees are.

Now that construction at the park is underway, the splash pad has been turned off and the playground equipment removed. Trees that were previously halved last year will also be removed as part of the work.

Plans to rehab the park began in 2022 starting with an online survey and then a community meeting where residents weighed in on what they most wanted to see from the remodel.

The online survey received 185 responses. At the community meeting, residents focused on three specific upgrades: Removing a parking lot behind the park’s pavilion, expanding a walking trail so it wraps around the entire park, and creating a landscape buffer between the park and residential properties. The remodeling plans also include an expanded playground and a pickleball court.

But to make the upgrades, the city determined it needed to remove some of the small park’s long-standing trees. The plans initially called for the removal of 37 of the park’s 97 trees. But after residents raised concerns, the city scaled back those plans and now will take out 25 trees — 21 pine trees and four oak trees, according to information shared by the city. The four oaks are “smaller, and (one) is damaged and in poor condition,” a fact sheet from the city notes.

“We’re trying to get them to save probably about 20 more,” Marshall said, but added he felt things were moving in the right direction with the city being willing to reevaluate the original plan.

A Columbia ordinance requires that most development projects include a survey of existing trees, as well as the maintenance of a certain degree of tree density. The city did not immediately provide the results of the tree survey conducted for Mays Park, but said the plans “exceed the trees density requirement for the site.”

The work at the park is expected to take six to eight months.

This story has been updated with new information.