Treasured tree's fate up in air as roundabout is being planned
Jan. 26—A 40-foot American holly tree is at the center, quite literally, of public outcry involving a long-awaited Gainesville road improvement.
The possible loss of the beloved landmark to a roundabout project at one end of busy Green Street has residents and community leaders hoping and pushing for a possible solution.
"This tree is a community treasure," said Dale Jaeger, a Gainesville landscape architect in comments to the Georgia Department of Transportation. "Its loss will be profound."
The tree, maintained by the Rotary Club of Gainesville, sits in a triangular median between West Academy Street, Green Street and E.E. Butler Parkway — or the heart of where GDOT wants to put a two-lane roundabout.
"I recommend GDOT explore ways to retain the tree," Jaeger said to GDOT, which received public input on the project through mid-January. "There are countless examples of trees being removed from a project site, protected during construction and replaced following construction."
Jaeger has been involved with keeping the tree up to par since 2010, after the tree caught fire in June 2009.
"One of the primary things that the Rotary Club has done is trying to protect the health of the tree long-term for its survival," she said in an interview last year.
The tree has become known as the Rotary Tree because Gainesville Rotary Club has nurtured and maintained it for years. The club has worked with city officials to ready it for the lighting of it for Christmas on Green Street every year. It also on occasion has been decorated for other causes during the year.
The triangle park with its boulder honoring the memory of Mrs. Mary John Dunlap Mitchell was dedicated in August 1934.
"We have the tree's best interests at heart, and we'll do anything we can within reason to save it," said Mike McGraw, Rotary president.
Even GDOT acknowledges the tree's significance.
"The great history of this tree is well known," district spokeswoman Elizabeth Johnson said.
She goes on to say that "the project manager indicated a tree will be in the roundabout."
However, "This is the only information that I have available. There is no information as to what type of tree will be in the new roundabout."
Jaeger said a good tree option is the holly that's there now.
"The Rotary Tree, in my opinion, is in excellent condition," she said. "The expected lifespan of a holly tree is long. The Rotary Tree can serve as a community landmark for years to come."
She added, "If they're talking about putting an 8-foot tree in the middle, that's going to look pretty sad."
The roundabout, which also would serve Academy Street NE leading to Brenau University, would be part of overall Green Street improvements that are being planned. Improvements along Green, which is lined with historic homes, would include a 5-foot raised median, slightly wider lanes, rebuilt sidewalks and new streetlights.
The roundabout alone is estimated to cost $5 million, with construction costing $2.3 million and set to take place in 2025.
The intersection is one of the busiest traffic nodes in the downtown area, with traffic flowing around the square and toward Interstate 985. Backups are frequent there, such as with Green Street drivers waiting in a thru-lane to turn right onto West Academy.
"This project is proposed to improve safety, reduce the severity and frequency of crashes and improve operations at the intersections," GDOT says on the project website.
