Pruning for paving, or trees in trouble?
City crews say they’re taking care to preserve trees during road repairs, but advocates argue that the canopy is still under threat.
Trees varying in age and species line Houghton Street in Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood, which is scheduled to be repaved this fall. To prepare for the road work, a large “milling” machine — operated by city contractors — will roll through the neighborhood, removing the street’s top layer of asphalt and demolishing anything else in its path.
For years, the city’s Streets Department has faced complaints from residents who argue that the practice has been destroying street trees — in some cases, completely upheaving them from their roots.
“When you mill a street, you have to go curb to curb to get all of the asphalt up, and the machine is in the footprint of a giant rectangle — about eight feet wide by 10 feet tall,” said Trevor Booz, the Streets Department’s assistant chief construction engineer, while pointing to the branches of a giant maple tree dangling over a parked car. “Imagine that car stacked on top of itself three times. That’s how big the machine is.”
In response to residents’ concerns, the department updated its contracts this past year, now requiring street resurfacing contractors to hire landscaping subcontractors (certified by the Department of Parks and Recreation) who will identify and trim trees ahead of street work.
But neighbors and advocates say the new requirement has not protected street trees from serious damage in Kensington, Fishtown, and other areas of the city, many of which are low-income areas that depend on trees for shade, reducing stormwater runoff, offsetting air pollution, and other aesthetic and health benefits. Residents have also voiced concerns about trees being cut down, as Green Philly previously reported.
“Anyone with a sharp saw can be on the contractor’s list,” said Jacelyn Blank, an arborist and co-founder of Philly Tree People, a volunteer-based nonprofit dedicated to planting and maintaining trees in Kensington and Fishtown.
Blank said that she and her neighbors have witnessed the preemptive removal of mature trees and aggressive pruning practices of major limbs over the past few months. Moreover, she said, the city has failed to communicate with residents about when these paving projects are happening and how they might affect street trees.
“What I’ve seen from the landscaping subcontractors has been horrendous. At least when the milling machines run into trees, they would leave stubs, and we could fix it,” Blank said. “The subcontractors are cutting into tree bark, and there is no healing from that. They’re also pruning trees in spring and summer, which is not okay. It’s best to prune them in the winter when they are dormant. Just totally inappropriate practices at inappropriate times.”
After hearing from a flood of angry neighbors, Blank created a Google survey to capture residents’ concerns about harmful pruning practices and large tree removals due to infrastructure projects. She said that Philly Tree People intends to present this information to PECO, Parks and Recreation, the Streets Department, and Philadelphia City Council.
“We are hopeful that this will push these parties and City Council into action to remedy the myriad issues we are facing with regard to protecting our tree canopy from untrained contractors and the larger issue of respecting our trees as critical green infrastructure,” the form says.
Streets Department representatives said that striking a balance between protecting trees and completing street work has been difficult, but the department has taken more proactive measures over the past year to strengthen communication with Parks and Recreation, contractors, and residents about future paving projects.
In addition to updating language on door hangers about tree trimming and milling taking place in residents’ neighborhoods, the Streets Department says it also implemented “pre-trim meetings” with Parks and Rec to evaluate areas where there might be “street-tree conflicts” and plan for the best way to address them.
“We meet on site to discuss with the contractor and the subcontractor, prior to the work beginning, to find the best way to minimize tree damage,” said Ben Stanko, operations manager in Parks and Rec’s Streets Tree Division, who said his department also plans to reevaluate its requirements for landscaping subcontractors. “We’ve learned a lot over the past year, and I think the efforts are continuing to improve.”
The Philly Tree Plan calls for increasing the canopy in every neighborhood to 30%. Blank said this goal can only become a reality if departments across city government figure out how to prioritize the protection of Philadelphia’s existing street trees.
“They need to all sit at the same table,” she said, “and work things out.”
Cover photo: Ben Stanko, of Parks and Recreation, and Trevor Booz, of the Streets Department, show where city subcontractors will prune a tree on Houghton Street in Roxborough to make way for future street paving.
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