Noblesville residents are desperate to save trees

What is the value of a tree? Arborists, environmentalists and even city planners in many locales would readily say that there are many, including reducing flooding and improving air quality and health.

The current heat wave brings special emphasis to another important value offered by trees: They produce a natural cooling effect from their shade and the evaporation of water vapor that is emitted from tree leaves. Trees can reduce temperatures in the immediate surrounding area by up to 6 degrees, per the U.S. Energy Department.

Unfortunately, though, trees have little value to the city administration of Noblesville. Their days are literally numbered. According to Mayor Chris Jensen, nearly 50% of the mature trees in the city’s Oakmont neighborhood are scheduled to be cut down because they are said to interfere with street resurfacing and create unsafe walking conditions as their roots uplift sections of sidewalk.

Residents of the Oakmont neighborhood are aghast as they contemplate the prospective loss of 60-foot maple tree canopies that line most of the streets. In the fall, when these maples turn a beautiful bright red, people come from all over the city to admire them.

Such plans set the city of Noblesville in stark contrast to many other municipalities from around the country that apply more enlightened policies to save trees while addressing sidewalk safety concerns. Consider Savannah, Georgia, where residents are not allowed to trim or prune trees without a permit from the city.

Noblesville residents and other experts have reached out to the Noblesville Street Department with other alternatives that would allow the city to maintain ADA compliance and resurface streets without sacrificing trees — but to no avail. If other cities across the Midwest, some even in Indiana, can repair sidewalks and streets, and make sure they are ADA compliant without removing trees, why is the city of Noblesville unable to do so?

This important question needs to be answered, and soon. The city’s residents want to save their trees before it is too late.

Jaime Rychener lives in Noblesville and Larry Kane lives in Carmel.