Trimming along power lines made woman’s trees disappear. She now wants them cut down

A Columbus woman fell in love with two towering trees on the right-of-way in front of her Lynda Lane home nearly 50 years ago, but that’s all gone now.

What Celie Helman felt for her trees has been chopped and trimmed away by line crews keeping the trees from damaging the power lines in the 2900 block of the street. The trees have gone from lovely to dreadful over the past 10 years as crews removed the entire treetops and gutted them of branches up the middle.

An inspection by city arborist and Urban Forestry and Beautification Division Manager Scott Jones noted half of the trees’ branches are gone and they should be cut down.

“What we have to do in situations like that we have to really kind of make the call on the condition of the tree,” he said. “ And clearly in this situation , 50 percent of the tree is gone. In that type of situation, they could be cut down.”

Before receiving photos of the heavily trimmed trees, Jones said he didn’t know about their condition. “I will get these trees written up for a removal,” he said.

Helman, 84, recalled how the trees greeted the family when they moved into the ranch-style home in 1969. “They were big,” she said. “They were so pretty. There was a third one when you go down the hill.”

Over the past 10 years, she started to notice the trimming appeared more severe to keep the tree branches from damaging the power lines. Trimming the branches reduces the likelihood of a power outage if there is a storm moving through the area.

“As they kept cutting, they got worse,” Helman said of the crews maintaining the right-of-way. “Until a year ago, I didn’t much pay attention to them. I was looking at them, and they were so awful looking.”

The condition of the trees took a big hit when power saws started gutting the middle branches of the trees to free power lines.

“They have everything running through them, “ Helman said of lines running along the street. “The one away from driveway is the bigger tree, and its branches are really up there in the wires.”

When she walks along the right-of-way, Helman said she takes a moment and looks up near one of the trees. “It’s just awful,” she said.

If the trees were a lot taller and only a small portion is missing, Jones said they are not classified for removal .

“In this case, there is clearly removal,” he said.

Helman hopes the trees are down in about a week and the right-of-way is ready for some landscaping in about a month. “I’m so excited about this,” she said.

If you’ve seen something that needs attention, give me a call.

This story was originally published April 29, 2018 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Trimming along power lines made woman’s trees disappear. She now wants them cut down."