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Broad Avenue resident objects to planned tree removals and sidewalk work
Summary
A longtime Broad Avenue resident said the city’s sidewalk project will remove mature trees and reduce property values; council members said the existing trees are undermining sidewalks and the city offered to plant replacements.
Louise Burkholder, a 30-year resident of 2042 Broad Avenue, told the Altoona City Council she opposes city plans to remove two trees and strip the green curbside strips during a sidewalk replacement project.
“I just wanna say I'm very grateful for the opportunity and, thanks for everything,” Burkholder began, then described the trees as “beautiful” and said they “keep the noise and pollution of a very busy street in check.” She said the trees support a shade garden, contribute color and — citing realtors.com — “1 tree adds 5 to 15 percent to a property's value and we are talking about 2 trees here.”
Burkholder described personal and neighborhood history, including repairing brick sidewalks, caring for the green strip beside the road and building a small commemorative brick patch she uses as part of her weekly routine during medical treatments. “Will you be compensating us for property value loss by taking our trees and expensive sidewalk? Of course you will not,” she said.
Council members responded that the city had offered to replace trees at the property and that removal was driven by the condition of the existing trees. A council member said the current trees are “upending the sidewalk” and that the city’s offer to install new trees “still stands,” adding that the household had rejected the offer previously.
Council discussion placed the block’s treatment in historical context: the Broad Avenue streetscape completed about a decade ago covered the block from 24th to 31st Street and did not include Burkholder’s stretch from Union to 24th Street. A council member said the subcontractor on the earlier project removed more trees than intended, which prompted the later streetscape work that still excluded the lower Broad Avenue segment.
No formal vote or change to the sidewalk plan was recorded at the meeting. Burkholder asked council to reconsider options and to allow replacement trees or other landscaping measures that would preserve the curbside green strip and the character of the block.
