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A plan opposed by area residents to remove 29 trees along Goodhue Boulevard — a seven-block corridor leading to the south side of the state Capitol — remained in limbo Friday despite a vote by the Capitol Environs Commission to allow the plan to move forward.

The commission, appointed by the city and state to review plans of public and private property and key view corridors in the Capitol Environs District, reviewed the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department’s plan to remove the trees that are close to 90 years old and replace them.

Forestry officials have said all 27 pin oaks along the corridor, along with two silver maples, are dying and need to be removed.

Residents argued some of the trees need to be pruned and have years of life left in them, and they questioned why other trees in the area with more noticeable problems aren't being removed.

The commission voted 3-2 to issue the needed “certificate of appropriateness,� but city officials later determined that four affirmative votes are needed to issue the certificate, which will allow the city to move forward with the tree removal, said Chris Triebsch, the city's chief communications officer.

Two members of the commission were absent at Friday’s meeting, and city officials will hold another meeting at a yet-to-be determined date. Testimony will be allowed at that meeting, Triebsch said. 

Typically, tree removals wouldn’t fall under the commission’s purview, but because city forestry officials have identified so many for removal, it would affect the aesthetic of the street, and the plan to replace the trees will require the commission’s approval.

The Parks and Recreation Department’s proposal is complicated by a 1986 master plan for the area known as the East and South Mall plan, which, among other things, recommends realigning the sidewalk and moving it closer to the street, so the trees would be closer to the houses and improve the view of the Capitol along the boulevard.

Eleven years ago, more than 40 neighbors who protested the removal of trees along the boulevard so the city could realign a portion of the sidewalk as part of that 1986 plan convinced the Capitol Environs Commission to spare the two large pin oaks. The city did remove two smaller ash trees, which city officials said didn’t fit with aesthetics of the area and were susceptible to emerald ash borer disease.

Numerous residents showed up again Friday to oppose the plan to remove many more of the trees and to oppose realigning the sidewalk, which they said would have a detrimental effect to those living along Goodhue, especially along the west side of the street.

Several people criticized what they said was a lack of community engagement on a plan that would affect so many residents and dramatically change the character of the tree-lined boulevard. A few people said they found out from fliers posted on poles along Goodhue Boulevard. 

City officials met last week with the Near South Neighborhood Association to discuss the plan.

Diane Walkowiak said she found the proposal to remove that many trees all at once appalling, because it would remove natural habitat and shade along the boulevard for pedestrians as well as residents.

“It will increase utility bills primarily for people who can least afford it and make Goodhue Boulevard look like a tornado hit it and I don’t think that’s what you’re going for,� she said.

She acknowledged some of the trees may need to be removed but said others still have many good years left.

“You’d think it would be a gradual process rather than this butchery motivated by funding rather than reason,� she said.

Trees a concern due to age

Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Stuckey-Ross said the trees along Goodhue have been of concern for some time and have been monitored by the city for years because of their age.

The city has $140,000 in federal dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act that will pay for removal and replacement of the trees. The dollars must be spent by the end of 2025. The city wants to remove the trees by the end of the year and replant new trees next spring. Taking down a number of trees in one area is more cost-efficient than doing so in different parts of the city, she said.

Adam Klingenberg, a certified arborist with the city, said each of the trees had been inspected and showed signs of deterioration — fungal issues, root rot, sparse foliage, among other problems. They aren’t all things one would notice driving down the street, he said.

“We have trees that are actively dying," he said. "If we prune deadwood we will be back to remove the rest of the tree.�

He said Parks and Recreation got six calls about tree issues following the windstorm in July and have taken 71 calls over the past three to four years.

It’s a safety issue for the city, Stuckey-Ross said, because they pose a risk to homes, vehicles and people. Now that the trees have been identified, it’s a liability for the city to leave them there, she said.

“We are well aware that once a tree is identified as at-risk it changes the risk calculation for the city,� she said. “Once we’re on notice, we need to do something.�

The city has 5,228 pin oaks, many of which are getting old and declining because of their age, the drought and their proximity to infrastructure.

As an example, Kingenberg said, the city recently removed 29 city trees around Nebraska Wesleyan University. The city had identified the trees, but a day before a contractor arrived to remove them, one of them collapsed.

In answer to a question from a commissioner, Klingenberg said he couldn’t say exactly when the trees along Goodhue would die, because it’s a slow progression.

One resident testified in support of removing the trees, and Bob Ripley, retired Capitol administrator, testified in support of the realignment plan.

Sidewalk plan complicates issue

But numerous residents said they didn’t like the sidewalk plan — and had expressed that view 11 years ago. Some wanted the commission to delay a vote, others to deny it.

Mary Roseberry-Brown, who owns property along Goodhue, said she often sees people walking up and down the boulevard, enjoying the tree canopy, which would be impossible to re-create if the sidewalk realignment plan is implemented.

Moving the sidewalks closer to the street would leave no room for trees — especially large trees — so close to the homes, she said.

“In 2013 we had a meeting at McPhee (Elementary), and neighbors resoundingly and unanimously said we don’t want the tree canopy removed,� she said. “This time we weren’t notified.�

Stuckey-Ross said she didn’t know about the sidewalk realignment plan until after her department had identified the trees for removal, and they'd recommend some changes. For example, the city no longer plants some species recommended in the plan, and they’d choose different placements for some of the trees.

However, the department can't create a replacement plan until issues with the sidewalk realignment are settled, she said. 

In the end, commission members asked the city parks and planning departments, along with Lincoln Transportation and Utilities, to convene a group to look at the East and South Mall plan from 1986 — and recommend changes.

Commissioners also instructed city parks officials to come up with a tree replacement plan.

Both the conditions requiring a tree replacement plan and any review of the 1986 street plan would have to be reconsidered as part of another vote on the certificate of appropriateness.