Beaufort’s tree commission has advanced a proposal to notify the public before scheduled tree removals
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The unexpected removal of a live oak from the patio at Luther’s Rare & Well Done has prompted Beaufort officials to consider a new public-notification process for tree removals.
City officials said the tree had been declining for years and was ultimately removed because it posed a safety hazard. The city intended to provide advance notice, but that did not happen before its contractor cut down the tree.
The Beaufort Park and Tree Advisory Commission voted July 23 to advance a proposal calling for signs to be posted on trees before scheduled removals. The city may test the process on trees affected by the North Street drainage project.
City Manager Scott Marshall said concerns about the Luther’s tree were first raised by a downtown resident who believed it was dead and hazardous. The city asked an arborist to inspect it.
The arborist determined that the tree was not yet dead and recommended pruning in an effort to revive it. The city’s landscaping contractor, The Greenery, completed the work according to the arborist’s recommendations, but the tree did not recover.
In March, The Greenery reported that sizable limbs had fallen from the tree and raised concerns about the danger it presented to people using the patio. A second assessment confirmed that the tree needed to be removed, Marshall said.
Michael Andersen, a member of the Park and Tree Advisory Commission, said city arborist Michael Murphy had been involved in evaluating the tree over several years. Andersen said removing it became necessary after the pruning failed and additional limbs fell.
“We don’t want patrons sitting there under Luther’s when a big old bough comes down,” Andersen said.
Notice did not reach city
After the city determined that the tree should be removed, downtown operations asked The Greenery to provide one or two weeks’ notice before beginning the work. That would have given the city time to contact Luther’s, alert adjacent property owners, inform the Park and Tree Advisory Commission and issue a public announcement.
The requested notice did not reach the city.
“We expected advance notice from The Greenery when they were ready to take it down, and that notice didn’t reach us,” Marshall said.
Because the city did not know when the contractor planned to begin, neither Luther’s employees nor the public received the notification the city intended to provide.
Marshall said it was his understanding that the owner of Luther’s knew the tree would eventually need to be removed and left a voicemail thanking downtown operations after the work was completed. He declined to speculate about what may have been communicated internally at the business.
The condition of the patio immediately after the removal created additional concerns. A hole remained in the deck, along with loose conduit and wiring that had been attached to the tree.
Marshall called the condition “completely unacceptable.” He said The Greenery later covered the opening and secured the loose wiring, eliminating the remaining hazard.
Although officials agreed that the live oak needed to be removed, the lack of advance notice became the focus of a broader discussion about how the city communicates with residents before visible changes are made to Beaufort’s tree canopy.
Andersen proposed posting a brightly colored sign directly on a tree before scheduled work begins, similar to the signs used to notify the public about zoning matters.
The notice could explain whether a tree is scheduled for removal, pruning or trimming and provide a way for residents to contact the city with questions. Andersen initially suggested that the requirement apply to trees on public property and to work requiring a city permit on private property.
“People don’t want surprises,” Andersen said.
He said advance notice would also allow the Park and Tree Advisory Commission to respond when residents ask about tree work. Commission members often receive calls after people see crews or hear chainsaws, Andersen said, but may not have information if they were not notified beforehand.
Commission advances proposal
At the commission’s July 23 meeting, Andersen formally proposed that Beaufort require advance signs on trees scheduled to be affected by removal, pruning or trimming.
During the discussion, city staff recommended beginning with removals. Applying the requirement immediately to all pruning and trimming projects could create logistical difficulties before the city determines how the process will work.
Commission members discussed posting notices at least one week – and possibly two weeks –before scheduled removals when the city has sufficient advance notice.
The North Street drainage project could provide the first test of the process. City staff told the commission that a 41-inch sycamore and several smaller trees will need to be removed because they conflict with the installation of a 60-inch stormwater pipe.
Staff said there is not enough room on the narrow street to install the pipe and required excavation equipment without entering the sycamore’s structural root zone. The tree’s removal was included in the project plans, and the city has discussed the situation with the project engineer, the South Carolina Department of Transportation and a nearby church.
Officials suggested posting notices on the North Street trees before their removal and sending the proposed wording to commission members for review.
The commission voted to advance the notification proposal, beginning with tree removals. Details such as the wording of the signs, how far in advance they must be posted and how the process would apply to different types of property still must be developed.
The proposal would not prevent the city from removing a hazardous tree or responding to an emergency. It would establish a notification process for removals that are known and scheduled in advance.
City staff will now work on the proposed notice and the procedure for posting it before upcoming tree removals.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
