Sometime over the weekend the row of a dozen-plus street trees lining the west side of Kirby Dr. between W. Main St. and Colquitt got cut down, a Swamplot reader reports. This leaves the eastern front of the Kirby Collection construction site fronted by an alternating pattern of high and low streetlights and stumps. The wooden construction fence that stood for about a year just inside of the sidewalk in front of the mixed-use project is now gone. The photo above shows the view looking south now from the corner of W. Main St.
The removed “highrise” oaks had been installed 9 years ago with the reconstruction of Kirby Dr. — replacing the larger 20-year-old oaks that had been there earlier.
- Kirby Street Trees coverage [Swamplot]
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Upper Kirby
OH!….this is horrible! The kinds of developers who makes scenes like this happen are deplorable! They will wreck our sight lines for their imagined rise in profit! ..cheap shit vandalism!
The city should fine them $1,000,000 per tree, and then make them replant them in the same place and at the same size. This tree chopping of city owned trees has got to stop somewhere and this action will serve as due notice to those who flaunt their desires over the citizens.
Lol, sit back and whatch peasants with pitchfork get all worked up over a couple of trees.
Thanks for the updates, Treelot.
These trees were not taken down lightly. Multiple tree experts were consulted to investigate whether the trees would survive the extensive work that will soon take place in this area. All tree experts agreed- the trees would die a slow death. The work that will take place around these trees is required to transition from the street elevation to a new building elevation that will prevent the building from flooding. The option of transplanting the existing trees was also considered; unfortunately the root ball is so imbedded in the area under the street, that too was not feasible.
New trees of the same caliber will be put in place of these trees. Hopefully the building that is now being constructed will last 100+ years, along with the new trees that will be arriving in a month or so. It is still hard to see the trees go, but at least now you know a hard battle was fought to keep them.
Why not replace the now-gone live oaks with trees that are more suitable for such a narrow space? I know that many people here seem to have a fetish for live oaks as opposed to other trees … but they need space to spread. If they are planted in such narrow spaces, they wind up having to be butchered into weird shapes in order to accommodate utility infrastructure and vehicular traffic. E.g., Italian Cypresses would grow more vertically, be beautiful, and would provide a bit of variety.
Mixitup,
Thanks for the update. I really don’t think this developer would have randomly chopped down these trees on a high profile street facing their project. It had to have been done for a reason.
While I’m a “friend of trees”, the fact that a third generation of trees will be planted in that same space isn’t very reassuring to the next set of trees. Why not plant a lush garden of flowers instead?
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Trees will have to be pruned, shaped, and sometimes chopped down along such a busy thoroughfare – low landscaping won’t have to suffer so much. As a corollary, North and South Boulevards are perfect for a long-life canopy of trees since it is wide and the residential nature won’t call for massive traffic improvements that would destroy trees.
As long as the trees are getting replaced with ones of the same caliber I’m good.
The idiots who think clear cutting our landscape is no big deal are the same ones responsible for Houston flooding–no regard for land use regulation, limiting development, protecting green spaces…which is needed in a city that sprawls across big flood plains. These people keep voting in people who are unwilling to spend the money to mitigate flooding, to limit development for the good of all, and then complain bitterly about the lack of government action later on when their houses are flooded.
I smell BS. Folks here will give you 1000000 and 1 why “the house must be torn down,” or why “The trees must be chopped up.” Quite frankly I don’t buy it.
I hope everyone just read what mix it up wrote. They are elevating this lot so it does not flood. Where will the water go? Why, on the neighbors of course.
Those trees looked sick and were leaning, urban street trees on a busy street don’t last. The trees planted 9 years ago were taxpayer funded. As long as the developer replants, houston is getting better trees with private money.
I’m always against developments filling streets with garbage and disturbing my morning drive for a few years, but for the love of god you guys are just pathetic. It’s a huge development so I’m sure they had to modify the landscape. Whether “mixitup” is right or not wait and see what they have planned. Like “Jack Gorwin” said the trees looked unhealthy and unattractive… you tree huggers will probably get nicer and healthier trees to jack off to.