Neighbors rally to save historic trees in St. Louis Park amid reconstruction project
An online petition in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, has nearly 800 signatures after neighbors say a city project is threatening to remove historical trees on their street.
Hugging Highway 100's west side lies tight-knit neighborhoods Creekside and Brookside, two of the city's oldest.
"It used to be an old oak savannah," said resident Shannon Farrell. "There's kissing canopy in some places, so trees across both sides of the street will actually meet."
Pink ribbon and warning signs now cling to trunks on the Brookside Avenue block. Neighbors are putting pink ribbons on trees to alert the neighborhood about the city's 2028 Pavement Management Project. The project entails reconstruction, underground utility work and a new bike lane on Brookside, which is what they're most worried about.
"We're not against a bike lane. We just want a bike lane in a safe spot, and it's not Brookside," said resident Karen Waters.
The bike lane would be a part of a larger project with Three Rivers Park District. The petition urges the Minneapolis suburb leaders to protect the historic oak trees the original plan would destroy.
"We don't own these trees. We're only their caretakers" said resident Nora Wildgen.
In an update on Friday, the city told residents the Brookside Avenue portion of the greater plan will now be pushed to a later date, an outcome neighbors said isn't efficient enough. An open house was held about the matter on Sept. 2.
The city says the pushback will give more time for Three Rivers Park District to have their own public engagement process.
"We were blindsided," Wildgen said. "I couldn't sleep."
"People who are living in this city really care," Farrell said.
The city says a few of the trees were deemed in poor health. A city spokesperson gave this statement to WCCO: "The city shares the community's appreciation of the city's tree canopy and natural resources and strives to balance those values with its responsibility to replace aging infrastructure such as watermain, sewer and pavement. We look forward to continuing to work with the community as project planning continues for 2028."
