City staff invites Tree Commission to weigh in on East Main BRT station design affecting Pleasant Ridge trees

City staff asked the Bexley Tree and Public Gardens Commission on June 18 to review two engineering alternatives for the proposed LightUs/East Main bus rapid transit station at Pleasant Ridge that differ mainly in how they treat mature street trees. Megan Myers, director of administration and development for the city of Vassley, told commissioners the project is at a 60% design stage and the city must submit comments within about a month. The commission was told the city council recently adopted “resolution 2 25” supporting the proposed Pleasant Ridge station location and a center‑loading station, and that staff and COTA’s design team are seeking feedback on whether to replace mature trees with street tree wells that strictly follow Main Street design guidelines or to retain a number of mature trees north of the station while relaxing some guidelines. “Both are technically within our main street design guidelines, but one significantly replaces mature trees with street tree wells… the other… keeps quite a few of the mature trees north of the proposed station location,” Myers said. Why it matters: the two alternatives trade off design standards (brick curbs, tree wells, structural soil) against retaining existing canopy and mature trees on the median. Myers said the city expects 100% design in 2026 and construction on Main Street segments sometime between 2027 and 2029; the BRT program is multiyear and will be built in segments. Supporting details: Myers said the BRT for most Main Street segments will use dedicated lanes, but Bexley’s narrow right‑of‑way precludes dedicated lanes so it would have mixed traffic with a center boarding median, which affects the median trees. She said technical staff from COTA and the engineering firm Kenley Horn will attend the commission’s July 2 special meeting to answer detailed engineering questions and that role plots showing which trees would be removed or retained will be provided. Quotes from the meeting: “60% design just means they’re not quite there yet, but they are at the point where they can give us something to look at and ask for feedback,” Megan Myers said. On timing, Commissioner Sheila Straub asked if construction would start by February; Myers answered, “the earliest they anticipate construction is the 2027 time frame… our actual construction will likely be 4 to 6 months sometime between 2027 and 2029.” Next steps and limits: staff scheduled a July 2 special meeting for the commission to review two alternatives and tree‑replacement options. Myers said no formal Commission action would be taken at that special meeting; it is a consultation step in the city’s review of COTA’s 60% design. The commission will have further opportunities to comment as the design advances to 100% in 2026 and through construction coordination.