Q: Ace, a little bird told me the City recently chopped down the last two trees at Court Square. I understand that Charlottesville aspires to achieve a semblance of metropolitan chic, but does that mean our innocent trees must suffer?—Tré Hugger
A: C’est vrai, Monsieur Hugger. A couple weeks ago, as part of the Court Square redesign project, the City cut down a red maple and a Bradford Callery Pear, the last two trees still growing at Court Square. Tim Hughes, the City’s urban forester (who Ace likes to imagine rides a giant chainsaw and lassos illegal pruners), says the trees, planted in the ’70s—making their historical significance, like David Cassidy’s, minimal—were dying anyway due to storm damage. Moreover, says Hughes, Bradford Pears especially are notorious for weak limbs and rarely live more than 20 years.
Clear-cutting one of our most highly hyped historic areas might seem depressing, but City Engineer Tony Edwards claims it’s all part of the grand plan for Court Square—a plan that, according to Edwards, was “O.K.’d” by the businesses and landlords of the area. In addition, says Edwards, “The root systems [of the trees] had started to raise the sidewalk, so [we] didn’t think [we] would be able to make a new sidewalk without hurting the trees.” Edwards then assured an a-twitter Ace that while a fountain is planned for the space vacated by the hapless greenery, six replacement trees will be planted.
While stumps from two previously sacrificed Callery Pears have sat embracing their stumpiness in front of the old Monticello Hotel since they were chopped down on separate occasions in 2001 and 2002 (according to Hughes’ admittedly foggy memory), Edwards says that, once construction reaches the sidewalks, all four stumps will be removed. “It would have been very disruptive for that street frontage” to do so now, says Edwards. “We decided to leave [the stumps] until we were doing all the work around [Court Square].”
The trees were located in front of the architecture firm Madison Spencer Architects, known for historically referential designs. Madison Spencer architect Colin Davis was sad to see the trees go. “I see this as symptomatic of the City’s larger lack of concern with tree preservation,” he says. “It looks terribly bleak right now.” However, Davis added, the bright side is that with no trees to block the natural light, Madison Spencer architects are using less electricity.
With all cut and done, and Court Square’s tourist-friendly makeover about to break ground, there’s really not much to say except, in the immortal words of Dr. Seuss’ Lorax, “Business is business and business must grow, regardless of crummies in tummies you know.”