The Akron Tree Commission will soon hear objections to tree planting.
Why? Even trees garner grievances.
Chair Sarah Vradenburg said the commission has received a small number of resident complaints since it was formed in 2016 — from sidewalk damage to raking.
“I want to make sure they have a voice, and I want to make sure that we take their objections into consideration,” said Matthew Knull, arborist (tree surgeon) for the City of Akron.
There have been enough complaints for Vice Chair Jeff Fusco and John Skakun, the assistant law director for the City of Akron, to draft changes to the city’s tree and shrub ordinance. Fusco, who is also the vice president of Akron City Council, called these changes more of a “housekeeping thing.”
City trees are planted on residential devil strips, Knull said, as well as in parks.
A few years ago, Vradenburg said, the commission began researching the ordinance and discovered it didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear objections from the public, even though it mails letters to Akron residents at the beginning of each planting season — spring and fall — advising them to share any objections with the public service director’s office.
“That’s when it came up that there wasn’t any way for them to object legally,” Vradenburg said of the commission. “There’s no mechanism for them to object and for us to act on that.”
The commission wants to listen to objections and make recommendations to Chris Ludle, the public service director.
Master Tree Planting Plan will be edited, sent to City Council
There also are efforts to introduce a second ordinance to the Akron Tree Commission — the Master Tree Planting Plan, which Skakun said has to be adapted first.
The plan, which was created 10 years ago, is currently undergoing edits before it goes to Akron City Council for a vote on adding it to the ordinance, Knull said.
If added, “it will give the tree commission a little bit more authority to review these objections, [to] changes that are being made to help people object to these street tree plantings,” Knull said.
Notices for the upcoming season will be mailed to residents at the end of summer, Knull said, while the first planting will start in September. Akron aims to replace 2% of its canopy annually due to the previous year’s loss from storms and other natural causes.
The city’s 2020 tree canopy report states that Akron’s current urban tree canopy is 34.85%, which overall indicates a healthy urban forest. But the city’s canopy overall is projected to decrease 4% over the next 15 years and decrease to 30% by 2040.
Akron loses about 6,540 trees annually.
This year, about 1,800 new trees will be planted on tree lawns (devil strips) at a cost of $750,000. The native tree species of Northern Red Oak, Serviceberry and Sugar Maple were selected.