Large-scale work at Mimosa Hall’s Founders Park sparks public outcry over tree removals and process

The City of Roswell began on-site work this spring at the Mimosa Hall / Founders Park project after completing final construction documents and securing required permits and ARPA funding, staff said, prompting sustained public criticism over the removal of mature specimen trees and the degree of public review.

Recreation and parks director Steven Malone told the council the project’s design process began in spring 2024 with a multi‑day design charrette, that the city secured initial ARPA funding on Sept. 23, 2024 and additional ARPA funding on Nov. 12, 2024, and that final “conformed construction documents” were received April 18, 2025 and submitted for permitting. Malone said the land‑disturbance permit was approved May 1, 2025 and the contractor mobilized May 26; a June site walk preserved three trees that had initially been slated for removal.

Residents and local preservationists said the scale of tree removals — including specimen trees they described as more than a century old — was not made clear before heavy equipment arrived. Longtime volunteers and board members for Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens, Friends of Bullock Hall and other speakers described the property’s historic gardens and specimen trees as essential to the site’s value and urged the city to stop further ground disturbance and explain why trees were removed.

Why it matters: advocates and many residents said the removed trees were part of the property’s historic character and that the city’s own tree protection and historic‑preservation provisions require clearer review and notification. City staff and the mayor said the project…