NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A Noblesville community is up in arms about the city’s plans to remove more than 100 trees in the Oakmont neighborhood.
The City of Noblesville said its removal of the trees is part of an effort to improve sidewalks in the area, but the plan is getting quite a bit of pushback from homeowners.
“You can meet many Oakmont residents who, the first thing they say is, ‘I bought here because of the trees,’” homeowner Courtney Kulp said.
And that is exactly what brought Kulp to the neighborhood, but starting Monday, the City of Noblesville said nearly 25% of the community’s trees are coming down.
“They’re going to cut the character right out of our neighborhood,” Kulp said.
Frustrated neighbors have placed flyers around some of those 135 trees, demanding Mayor Chris Jensen not cut them down. Many, like Kulp, worry the area will not be the same without the foliage.
“Doing this level of cutting in a neighborhood where mature trees define a neighborhood, it’s going to have a huge impact on home values,” Kulp said.
In addition to environmental concerns, other neighbors also worry cutting down trees will take away part of the neighborhood’s scenery.
“People come all around in the fall just to walk through the beauty of the red maples,” said neighbor Sarah Ropte.
“We have a canopy that’s covered with red,” homeowner Vicky Law said. “We want to keep that.”
Mayor Chris Jensen said there are some trees in the city, including many in the Oakmont neighborhood, that have overgrown and caused damage to sidewalks, making them uneven and unsafe. He said removing trees will allow the city to repair the sidewalks to make them ADA compliant and safe for all.
“We want compromise,” Law said. “We want them to try some different things that we have suggested instead of coming through and taking all of our trees out.”
Mayor Jensen told FOX59 and CBS4 over the phone that the city will replant 70% of the trees it removes, but some neighbors worry they will not get to enjoy the new trees when they are fully grown.
“That will take 25 to 30 years to mature,” Kulp said. “So, we’ll be dead when they are where they are now.”
Homeowners said they plan to picket during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Mayor Jensen shared the following statement with FOX59 and CBS4:
“The discussion with the Oakmont neighborhood has been ongoing since 2017. As a community leader, my priority is public safety for all neighborhoods. Myself and our team has to make decisions based on facts, data, and input. We have a highly experienced team that has been transparent with the Oakmont neighborhood, hosting a meeting at City Hall and attending a community meeting in the neighborhood along with numerous emails, phone calls, and social media responses in addition to in-person discussions. With the number of trees set to be removed, as a last resort for safety and accessibility reasons, including ADA compliance, 70% of what we remove will be replanted with trees that are fit for the space to avoid these issues in the future. We know this has been a difficult decision and a discussion that has played out for far too long. We have been open with our communication and respect the residents’ input.”
Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen
