Days after the Tallahassee Democrat reported that residents were up in arms over the proposed tearing down of almost two dozen trees that buffer their neighborhood from what will be the new police headquarters, city officials have temporarily halted those plans.
Residents of the Parkside and Park Terrace community and the Alliance of Tallahassee Neighborhoods banded together days before the scheduled uprooting to beg the city to keep the trees.
Twenty oak trees were scheduled to come down Monday, but after public backlash, the city asked engineers to evaluate options for the per-construction work at the Northwood Centre.
City Manager Reese Goad said in an interview that he hopes to receive an answer Wednesday about whether the trees will have to be removed. If not, a resolution would be presented by the end of the week.
Engineers are working to determine if the stormwater holding pond can be relocated without redoing the site’s master plan.
The trees that serve as a buffer around the existing pond were scheduled to be removed to create more space for a bigger pond that is supposed to be behind the future home of the Tallahassee Police Department.