BARBERTON: It’s rare for a suburb to have a traditional downtown, and city officials say they just wanted to show off the historic facades of their century-old business district.
But social media suggests Barberton residents are more angry than pleased with the removal of more than 40 trees lining part of Tuscarawas Avenue.
“Don’t take the trees!” one resident posted on Facebook, finishing with a tearful emoji and the song lyrics “Pave paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Mayor Bill Judge and Planning Director Joe Stefan are pleading for patience as a multi-year plan unfolds.
Most of the trees were removed from between Fourth and Fifth streets, where the city this summer expects to install a canopy of lights strung across the roadway.
The block features a cinema, children’s theater, coffee shop, gallery and artists’ studios and Judge said the festive illumination will reflect the area’s new designation as an arts and entertainment district.
The city is also discussing ways to return some less-obscuring greenery to the naked block next year, possibly in the form of flower planters, hanging baskets and/or colorful banners.
“We believe that downtown Barberton businesses provide a unique dining, retail, and entertainment experience centered on the arts,” Judge said in a statement released after residents took to the Internet to vent their feelings. “Part of our efforts to support downtown is the creation of a walkable environment that showcases our rich, historical architectural aesthetic.”
Judge and Stefan said downtown business owners support the changes, and that the trees had grown so large they were hiding signs and interfering with awnings. The city’s design review commission also approved the plan.
While 24 trees were taken down this month, 17 others were removed on the same block last year without fanfare or complaint, Stefan said.
“The trees put in probably shouldn’t have been. They grew too big and wide,” outgrowing their grates and creating trip hazards, Stefan said. The trees are about two-thirds the height of the 3- and 4-story buildings.
The city is also pulling up uneven bricks along the sidewalk and replacing them with stamped concrete that looks like red brick. Expenditures are being capped at $50,000 a year, so downtown’s conversion will take at least a couple more years, he said.
Trees remain around parking areas and, for now, on the downtown blocks east of Fourth Street. More trees will be removed next year, Judge said.
But over the past week, Facebook users have been almost universally in favor of a softer downtown lined with the trees.
“Looks so bare and so sad,” one poster said.
“Sucks! Losing that welcoming, comfy feel,” another said.
Resident Andy Bodnar said the tree controversy has had the “most emotional impact” of any Barberton topic he has seen on social media in the past year.
He said he wishes the city had done more to communicate with residents and seek their input.
“There is no excuse in (not) speaking to the people,” Bodnar said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.