To maintain public safety, the City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department will immediately begin removing dead and dying trees on Flora and Crockett Streets in the Arts District. Approximately 25 Bald Cypress trees have died on Flora Street, east of Pearl Street, and on Crockett Street between Pearl Street and Ross Avenue. The rows of Bald Cypress trees within the elevated sidewalk and paver systems were planted over twenty years ago when the Myerson Symphony Center was constructed. The average life span of trees within artificial growing environments that are typically found in downtown and urban settings is approximately 15 to 20 years. These trees are dying because they no longer can sustain themselves within a limited growing medium.
The City plans to address this problem in several phases as described below:
1) Immediately abate risk of hazard by removing the dead trees. Tree stumps will be cut as flush with the sidewalk as possible and covered with landscape mulch or decomposed granite until such time the stumps can be removed.
2) City will evaluate the elevated sidewalk and paver system to determine how the stumps and root balls can be removed without irreversible damage to the sidewalk system.
3) City will begin plans to plant replacement trees in the vacant tree wells. Such plans will include an evaluation of the sidewalk system to determine if the tree wells can remain intact in their current condition to accept new trees, or if a modification is necessary.
4) The sidewalk system is deteriorating; therefore the City will evaluate the cost of replacement and include the cost in the City’s Capital Needs Inventory for inclusion in a future Capital Bond Program.
5) The Park and Recreation Department is communicating with the adjacent property owners and stakeholders within the area to ensure appropriateness and orderliness of these actions.
The City of Dallas and the Park and Recreation Department is sensitive to the Sasaki plan for the Arts District, which established the street and sidewalk landscaping standards within the district and is committed to maintain the integrity of these standards.
