New Canaan plans to remove (and replace with new trees) four pines leaning near the edge of South Avenue at the Center School lot (just across Maple from the library) and to grind down tree stumps along the state road between the downtown and Farm Road.
The pine trees by the Center School lot that are slated to come down. Credit: Michael Dinan
The pine trees will be replaced by two dogwoods and a magnolia, Tree Warden Bruce Pauley said during the Board of Selectmen meeting Wednesday.
“And I believe the junipers have been removed, so it’s going to be a much nicer gateway to town,” Pauley said at the meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center.
The selectmen approved an $18,915 contract with Almstead Tree and Shrub Care Co for tree pruning and removal at various spots in town.
The four pine trees on the east side of South Avenue here—the first one is tagged—will come down to make way for dogwoods and a magnolia. Credit: Michael Dinan
Together with the tree replacement by the former site of Center School’s kindergarten, Pauley said New Canaan will see 12 to 15 tree stumps on both sides of South Avenue ground down.
“Even though it’s a state road, we had the money in the budget and they [the state] weren’t going to do it,” he said.
Selectman Beth Jones asked whether, once the stumps were removed, the areas where they had been sitting would become lawn along with the rest of the strip between South Avenue and its sidewalk—Pauley said yes.