West Ash Street residents continue push against removal of trees in neighborhood
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Some Columbia residents who live in the neighborhood along West Ash Street say they feel their voices are still going unheard.
Carol Rogers said she's lived in neighborhood for nearly 50 years. During that time, Rogers claims residents have asked the city for traffic calming measures, but says the plans the city has doesn't align with those requests.
The City of Columbia's Ash Street Improvement Project includes an 8-foot-wide sidewalk along the north side of Ash Street for pedestrians and bicyclists. It also includes a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along the south side of Ash Street to fill in sidewalk gaps.
The project was initiated after a quarter-cent sales tax was passed in August 2015, according to information on the city’s beheard website. If approved, the city says construction could begin between the summer and winter of 2026.
The design would require the removal of trees for sidewalk construction, which many residents oppose.
"Cutting down trees makes people go faster," Rogers said. "Things that slow cars down are trees, narrower lanes, more pedestrian crossings."
A group of roughly 30 residents gathered along West Ash Street on Wednesday afternoon, protesting the city's plans, claiming it would require the removal of more than 100 trees. Residents yelled the words "save our trees, save our yards" while holding posters displaying the words "trees, not traffic."
"I mean, imagine if it was your yard and the city was saying we're taking quite a bit of it," protester Mike Wertzberger said.
Roughly 65 people attended an open house for the project in March. The city also stopped accepting comments on its beheard website on April 6. Public Works Spokesman John Ogan told ABC 17 News via email the city has received a significant amount of feedback from residents and is currently taking it into consideration.
"Right now, our engineering team is reviewing all of the submitted feedback and is working to identify what adjustments may be appropriate for the current design," Ogan said.
Ogan said the city plans to have another public discussion in May or June.
Some residents say they plan to attempt to have the neighborhood downgraded from a major collector, to a neighborhood collector, which would make them eligible for traffic calming measures.
"They haven't provided us with any information on how many trees we're going to lose if we pick the middle ground...the five feet on either side which would be the great compromise," Justin Clarke said.
