Council has announced its plan to continue with the Church Street Upgrade and as such the trees are already approved for removal.

“As a ratepayer and community member, I am angry at the fact that so many of us are totally ignored by council when it comes to long ranging decisions, that affect all of us and our town,” Bellingen’s Ziggy Koenigseder said.

“Surely elected councillors represent us and thus listen to the community … to say that 'the natives are angry', is an understatement, and we all have very long memories.

“To waste government grants on destroying nature, when so many jobs need doing within the Shire is absolute madness and cannot be tolerated, especially when council approves a six per cent rate increase”.

Council is establishing a working group to investigate suitable replacement trees and councillors Jennie Fenton and Steve Jenkins are part of this committee.

The focus of the working group will be around input to the selection of a suitable replacement species, which Cr Jenkins said includes consideration of the character of the town, need for shade and protection of infrastructure.

“As beautiful as the camphor trees are though, unfortunately they have to go,” Cr Jenkins said.

“Essentially they have outgrown their current location and I understand have and continue to cause damage to council infrastructure in that area, i.e. the footpaths and road surfaces at ground level and other infrastructure not visible below the surface. This also creates a risk to public safety which the council must mitigate. Their removal therefore, is, in part, in the public interest.   

“It will not be the case though that there will then be nothing planted in their place, or that it will be years before any seedlings planted grow to mature trees.  

“Trees will be planted in their place, and these trees will be well advanced at the time of their planting (there are nurseries apparently that specialise in providing advanced stage trees). What the committee are doing is reviewing a number of types of trees, and smaller shrubs.  

“Personally, I am particularly interested to see native non-deciduous species planted.  We also need to select species that do not produce fruit, once again a public safety issue as people could eat the fruit and become sick and also fruit would attract the bats into the town centre.

“Rest assured, if I thought there was an alternative to removing the camphors, I would promote it. Sadly, there is not.”

Deputy general manager, Matt Fanning also replied to the community concerns.

“Council is very aware of the sentimental significance of the Camphor Laurel trees in Church Street,” Mr Fanning said.

“The council understands the need to ensure shade is provided and the character and amenity of the street respected. This must be considered in the context of risk associated with falling limbs, community safety, damage to public and private property and infrastructure as well as and achieving the goal of the main street upgrade in having a town centre which facilitates safe access for all modes of transport and especially foot and mobility modes.”

Council said the planning for the Cenotaph and Church Streets Upgrades are well advanced with the RMS providing significant funds for the works. Works will be begin following ANZAC Day.

Letter-to-the-Editor: Keep the trees

Letter to the Editor: Take paradise and put up a parking lot

Church Street North Precinct – Street Tree Selection: 2011 report that provides details on the results of the public consultation process undertaken by Council to select new street trees for Church Street, Bellingen. The outcome of the 2011 public consultation was the selection of “Brush Box” lophostemon confertus as the preferred street tree, which was planted within the upgraded Church Street precinct. 

On Wednesday, March 30, 2011 the Bellingen Shire Courier-Sun ran the following article titled: Camphor compromise.

Council’s original plan was to remove four camphor laurel trees from Church Street in Bellingen.

Now only one will go … and that’s “only half a tree” according to Mayor Mark Troy.

Council’s backdown is due to a blowout in the cost of removing the camphor laurel from the western side of Church Street (adjacent to the Black Bear Café) as detailed in the Courier-Sun on March 23. The issue was debated at the Council meeting on Wednesday, March 23 when the two council rangers were in attendance for four hours to ‘control’ the public gallery.

The only tree that will be removed is the one near the courthouse on the eastern side of the street.

Mayor Troy said it had been “butchered and was only half a tree”.

The cost of removing the tree on the eastern side is estimated at $70,000 while the cost of removing both trees (eastern and western sides) is $122,000.

The total cost of option 1, which includes the removal of the eastern tree footpath works, viewing platform, roadway reconstruction and concept plan is $784,175. The cost of option 2, which includes all of the above plus the removal of both trees, is $836,175.

Total grant funding and the use of Section 94 contributions, RTA contributions, Roads Risk Reserve funds, labour savings by using council labour and overhead recovery from state roads total $787,507, leaving a shortfall of $48,668 on option 2. Deputy Mayor Kerry Child said she would like to see both trees removed “but we don’t have $49,000 and we don’t know the cost of any remedial work”.

“The dollars are my concern,” Cr Child said.

She moved that council explore external funding options to complete the project (including removal of the western camphor).

Cr Gordon Braithwaite said he was the only councillor born in the town. “I played among those trees in the 1930s. They are a part of Bellingen. It’s vandalism by council wanting to destroy these trees,” he said. “All they need is another pruning, this hasn’t been done for 70 years.”

Cr David Scott said he couldn’t support Cr Child’s motion because he had a problem with the master plan for Church Street.

“We need to take another look at it.” Cr Child said the process was started in 2002 and council had been sitting around since then waiting for funding.

“We won’t get everyone to agree, we must bite the bullet and go ahead and do it.” Cr Troy said the plan was developed by the community with the overall aim of revitalising Church Street.

“There are too many unknowns involved in removing the tree from the western side and we have a time frame of completing the project by June 30,” he said.

“The trees will be dead if we don’t get on with it!”

The motion to remove only one tree from the western side of Church Street was carried by four votes to three, with Crs Scott, Coe and Braithwaite against.

In his report to the meeting last Wednesday (March 23, 2011), the Director of Engineering, Wayne Butler said the current master plan for the project, which used as a basis that original work from 2002, and the detailed concept plan, which was made available to our community in late 2010 was a staged upgrade to the northern part of Church Street (Hyde Street to Church Street Lane).

“The upgrade is to provide improvements to public outdoor facilities and street amenity to provide an attractive multi-purpose open space overlooking the Bellinger River within the conservation area of the town,” Mr Butler said.

“The proposed works include the following: Extension of the footpath between Pub Lane and Short Street Lane to consolidate and formalise the kerb alignment and provide additional outdoor leisure opportunities Provision of a fresh pavement treatment with the objective of establishing a consistent palette of patterns, colours and materials that can be extended throughout the precinct New formal tree planting in the extended footpath area Provision of parallel car parking on the western side of the street, and the removal of car parking from the front of the CWA Rationalisation of parking on the eastern side of Church Street, and new footpath treatments Establishment of a resurfaced shared way at the mouth of Short Street Lane in the area of the observation/viewing platform Removal of Camphor Trees depending upon resolution of Council New street tree planting on the eastern side of the street Installation of new street furniture, and Construction of a new viewing platform area overlooking the river at the northern terminus of Church Street.

David O’Meara of O’Meara Woods & Associates Pty Ltd attended a workshop on March 8 to provide an overview of the structural engineer’s report regarding the removal of the camphor laurel trees.

A summary of the report is provided below: 1. General: The potential effect of trees planted too close to structures are: The roots can grow under the footing, and as they mature and expand, can cause damage to the structure by localised lifting if the root is quite shallow.

• A root will remove moisture from the soil, and this reduced moisture content can cause the soil to shrink (if not founded on sand). Death of the root can result in the moisture content increasing, thereby causing the soil to expand if conditions allow, resulting in movement of the structure.

• When the roots are dead, they can rot away leaving voids in the soil which can act as conduits if groundwater is present. Material can be transported through the voids, thereby causing settlement in areas away from areas where it may have been expected.

• Roots may rot and cause settlement damaging structures above.

“Other factors that may affect the adjacent buildings are vibrations and activities undertaken during removal of the trees. It is anticipated that the tasks required for removal of the trees will involve lopping of the foliage and removal of branches and the bole,” the report stated.

“This will be undertaken by chainsaw or similar equipment, which will have minimal effect on adjacent buildings. The removal of the stumps and some roots will require excavation of the site (western side) which could be at depths of 3-4m.

“Any roots that are identified as likely to be growing under buildings are to be severed close to the building line to ensure they do not disturb surrounding material in the event they are accidentally pulled or dislodged during excavation of the stump.

“The footpath, kerb and paving stones along the western side of Church Street show signs of movement caused by the presence of the roots. It is not known what the roots have done to the council services under the ground in this area.

“The damage to footpath and kerb does not appear to be as great across the road on the eastern side, near the Courthouse, however remediation of the kerb and some footpath would also be required in this area.”

2. The Structural Engineer’s report provided the following conclusions: It has not been possible to verify the current impact of roots on the adjacent buildings, however there were no obvious signs of damage to buildings from the trees at present. Whilst failure to identify the size, frequency and depth of roots has prevented a remediation method be proposed prior to works commencing, the possible consequences have been identified and remediation options can be identified and undertaken during the removal works.

Australian Standard AS 2870 identifies that the characteristic surface movement that can be expected in a soil similar to that found in Church Street is in the range of 20-40mm (Class M, table 2.3 AS 2870).

Based on the expected low water table combined with a soil suction profile it is not expected that the removal of the trees will have a significant effect on the adjacent properties due to changed moisture conditions.

Excavation of the stumps and roots has the potential to impact on the footings of Building A if the excavation is 4-5 metres deep. During removal of the stump, engineering supervision will be required to assess whether temporary retention of material will be required between the pit and the adjacent building to prevent undermining of the footings.

BSC services located under the western side of Church Street, and those belonging to Telstra and Country Energy on the eastern side are most likely to be damaged during the removal works.

Replacement for council services is included in the fee estimate; however, it is recommended that the other utility owners be contacted regarding their assets.

The aerial lines on the west side of Church Street will need to be removed prior to works commencing and the streetlights will need to be removed and the power supply isolated.

3. The Structural Engineer's report provided the following recommendation: In the absence of invasive exploration on site, it is not possible to confirm depth and extent of root ingress below the footings.

Due to the age of the buildings, BSC was unable to provide engineering details on existing footings, so it is not possible to provide design for remediation until these are known. Therefore, it is proposed that amongst the first works on site is the removal of the footpath alongside the real estate building. This is seen as the most likely to be affected and will allow the opportunity to assess the situation and provide an engineered solution to the remediation if required.

It should be noted that the Structural Engineer’s report also provided a costing estimate.

These estimates were taken into consideration as part of formulating the detailed estimates for the project, which are discussed later in this report. It should further be noted that council officers have provided advice to Council’s Insurer in the matter.

I would like to place on record the concerns of many residents in the Bellingen community regarding a Bellingen Shire Council proposal to remove three large camphor laurel trees from Church St, Bellingen.

The council proposes to remove trees which are over 100 years old. It is doing this with the assistance of a $1.4 million Australian government grant as part of an upgrade to the main streets of Bellingen, Dorrigo and Urunga.

Whilst the camphor laurel is technically regarded as a toxic weed, the reality is that these mature trees define the character of Church Street and add to the ambience of the town. The removal of any of these trees will change the local streetscape and destroy a natural piece of community infrastructure.

The trees provide shade for the retail shopping strip and, whilst replacement trees can be planted, it will be difficult to replicate the benefits of 100-year-old trees on the streetscape.

Recently I met with a number of concerned residents about this issue. The meeting was organised by local resident Ziggy Konigseder. The residents believe that the council has not genuinely consulted with the community about the removal of the trees. They believe that the council has not been transparent in this process, although the plans were on public display, and there is a great deal of community angst that the loss of these trees will mean a substantial loss of character.

Certainly it is my belief and the belief of many others that the old trees can be accommodated within the plan for the upgrade of the street, and that removing those trees would be a retrograde step.

The council maintains that it must proceed with the tree removal in order to meet the Commonwealth’s funding deadline of completing the works by 30 June this year. It also disputes that many in the community do not want the trees removed. Based on the number of representations I receive in relation to these trees, there is very strong community opposition to the proposal to remove them.

The community feels that a better outcome could be achieved, and a better result would be to retain the existing trees and to work those existing trees into the proposed upgrade. At a time when government funding is scarce and the Gillard government is introducing new taxes to fund the flood recovery, it is hard to understand that taxpayers’ money is being used on a project that so many people in the community are opposed to.

The council is being very stubborn on this matter and is refusing to back down. It is resisting calls from the community to retain the trees. It is a very important community issue. These trees should be retained, and that would be a better outcome.

This letter outlines the MNC Greens’ position regarding the Church Street camphor laurels in December, 2010.

Like the Bellingen community itself, the Mid North Coast Greens have not reached consensus regarding the proposed removal of the camphor laurel trees in Church Street. Our members are also divided between the cultural and amenity value of the trees versus their weedy potential.

It would appear far better to allow the Bellingen community to continue to debate the removal or preservation of the trees rather than rush to action that cannot be reversed and that will alienate so many.

Having had no group input into the current decision by council to remove the trees the MNC Greens believe it is time to take a deep breath, enjoy a coffee under our trees and to further seek solutions that will at least appeal to more Bellingen folk. The future route of Waterfall Way through or around Bellingen may also impact on this landscaping and that debate is sure to be far more divisive.