Six trees and a Chaffee County parking lot: transparency in question as citizens object

Questions swirl over Salida’s Tree Canopy, and the County’s plan to remove six enormous elms from the county lawn to make room for parking.

In the past two weeks, a brouhaha has erupted over the fate of six giant elm trees surrounding the east side of the Chaffee County Administration Building located at 104 Crestone Ave. Salida, as a little-discussed plan to add a parking lot, moved forward. According to Crabtree Group, the engineering firm that designed the parking lot, the trees have to go, the parking lot is necessary, this is the only place to put it, and the county can always plant more trees.

All the large trees visible in this shot will be removed if the county proceeds with its current parking lot plan. (Photos by Jan Wondra)

Hundreds of county residents disagree with that assessment.

What began as citizens’ alarmed emails became a concerted campaign focused on a citizen’s declaration of objection to the project. A declaration, signed by more than 500 Chaffee County residents, has been delivered to the Chaffee Director of General Administration Bob Christensen.

At the heart of the objections: how could the county remove six enormous trees from Salida’s canopy, without even asking the public what it thinks of the project? And second, what other options are possible to accommodate the growing parking needs at the county buildings, while protecting the urban canopy?

No formal public hearing had ever been ‘noticed’ on the project, which the county says would add much-needed parking spaces at the administration building and make it easier for those with disabilities to deposit mail ballots during election season. Instead, the parking lot concept was moved ahead through meetings between the design engineering firm and the staff.

“I got 178 emails in 20 hours [about this],” said arborist Angie Jenson of TerraFirma Forestry, speaking on April 21 during a county commissioner discussion about the project. “So the county knows, we aren’t going to give up our trees and our open space. Please reconsider … people are passionate about this. You can’t replace those heritage trees. Please protect the canopy that you have – because you don’t have much.”

County staff says that the project has been discussed for a long time, especially the need for better access for the mail ballot process, and the congestion from the county’s growth. On jury days, when 60 people are called as potential jurists, the entire area is overwhelmed with people searching for parking spaces.

Chaffee County says it needs more parking space at the County Administration Building at 104 Crestone Ave.

The county administration building’s park-like setting sits near Thornoff Park, where the trees of both locations appear to be of the same age.

Growing in a park-like setting, the trees surrounding the Chaffee Administration Building are considered healthy.

“More parking is needed to accommodate growth and the demands of the public,” noted Chaffee Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) Chair Greg Felt, speaking during the same meeting. “That said, we’ve had hundreds of suggestions about ways to handle parking … I think we’ve received adequate feedback [to consider adjustments].”

The trees are on the grassy north, east and south sides of the county administration building (the old historic courthouse building).

“Speaking as an ISA Certified Arborist, these are among the biggest and healthiest trees in the county. They are not diseased beyond normal conditions for their age and species,” said Jenson in a written statement. “These trees have been routinely pruned by my crew, professional tree-climbing arborists, for the past 16 years. Because they are growing in a park-like setting, they grow much healthier than other elms in our community and pose fewer hazards because of the open space around them.”

“I was surprised this was as far down the track as it is, and we weren’t involved or up to speed,” said Chaffee Commissioner Keith Baker. “If we decided that we need to reel this back in, maybe do a different idea … I want to make sure that the public knows what the county is doing… once the bids are submitted, if we want to go in another direction – we could. [Jenson] has stated in her professional opinion, some of these trees are viable. There is no need to remove them.”

The county is legally bound to proceed with the bid process, which closed April 30, but they are not bound to act on the bids. Bids on the parking lot project were originally due to be opened during the May 5 County Commissioners meeting. That bid event has been moved to the May 12 BoCC meeting agenda.