Columbus Judicial Center & Golden Park projects put ‘cart before the horse,’ arborist says
The man in charge of the city’s trees said Tuesday that he has never been given a plan for the development of the new $200 million Judicial Center Project despite the city administration claiming otherwise.
Eric Gansauer, the city arborist with Columbus Consolidated Government for 20 years, said what he was given a rendering and not a full plan as required by the city’s own ordinance. He said the process of developing a plan to align with the project is backwards.
“The Judicial Center and Golden Park developments are putting the cart before the horse, not following the standard procedure,” Gansauer said.
However, at Tuesday’s Columbus city council meeting, Ryan Pruett, Director of Codes and Inspections, disputed Gansauer’s claims and said that a tree plan has been submitted. He did not say to whom it was submitted.
“A tree plan has been submitted,” Pruett said to council. “A site development permit is being completed now and the arborist will sign off.”
After two months of requesting an interview with Gansauer to understand the city’s reasoning for felling 90-year-old trees to make way for the center, and whether there was indeed a required tree plan, the Ledger-Enquirer was granted access Tuesday to speak with him.
At the end of March, Gansauer said he was sent a rendering, “not an official plan” of the Judicial Center. That same rendering was shared with the City Council Tuesday by Pruett.
“It’s a rendering. It’s not complete,” Gansauer said. “It doesn’t meet all of the requirements that we have. What I need to see is a plan that attempts to meet the requirements.”
Gansauer said key elements such as soil impact and tree density units (TDU) are missing from this rendering.
The 43 trees (some of which have already been removed) identified to be taken down will be replaced by 60 trees, according to Pruett’s update and renderings.
While Gansauer insists he has still never seen a site development or tree plan, he decided to save two 100-year-old white and English oak trees because, “they’ve been doing well and I wanted to keep them rather than destroy–to continue an experiment if they will work in our area.”
Those two trees were planted below the Space Science Center on Front Avenue.
“The 48” oak tree removed, technically could be saved, but cost-wise it would have been prohibitive,” Gansauer said when asked about the two historic trees cut back in February. “In September, when I did the first review for the Judicial Center–with no tree plan–my question was why aren’t we saving these trees. The response I continued to get is ‘a tree plan is forthcoming’ from SLAM.” The site architect’s name is SLAM.
Pruett highlighted that with all of the new trees, the Judicial Center will now have a 225% increase in trees when the entire project is complete.
“I’m in agreement with this concept plan for the most part, except some of the species BGP Architects chose will not work well and we will need to revise that,” Gansauer said.
Dorothy McDaniel, executive director of Trees Columbus, has been requesting the same information for months, asking for a tree plan for both public projects and saying the plans needs to be done in tandem with demolition.
“The tree ordinance applies equally to both private and public entities,” McDaniel said in an email.
“This plan review process is intended to provide a fair and level playing field, regardless of the project, the location, or the developer. The tree ordinance specifically requires arborist involvement and approval from the very beginning of the process in order to obtain a site development permit, because the arborist has specific knowledge vital to the success or failure of trees on the development site.”
For Gansauer, all of this is a first.
“This is the first time [the city] ever had a demolition that happened without a full site development plan,” Gansauer said. “This should be coming from SLAM. This is the first time in 20 years that this has happened.”
Another form of tree protection and planning that the City of Columbus and many other municipalities have is a City Tree Board. The current 11-member board meets three times a year. Their last meeting was in October 2023. Gansauer voiced concerns during that meeting about the historic trees that would be cut down.
“He is supposed to get plan details and then voice concerns on any plans that fall under the UDO,” Kristin Younguist, Tree Board Chairperson said. “If the City Arborist says the plan doesn’t meet the UDO the developer could get fined, and appeals. We are powerless without appeals coming to us. We can make recommendations and present the recommendations to the city, but unless there is an appeal there is no power for the Tree Board.”
Gansauer said he wasn’t sure the Tree Board could help with this issue, because he didn’t have a plan to appeal. The plan must have a certain percentage of tree density unit (TDU) requirements. Then, the board can vote to accept a buyout, where the developer pays into the Tree Fund because they didn’t meet the TDU coverage.
Golden Park tree concern
Gansauer put the rumor to rest surrounding the 150 trees that are planned to be cut at Golden Park. “Yes, that is the preliminary tree plan” and corrected the number to 148.
“This is still being finalized by the local architects who I’ve had a chance to speak with,” Gansauer said.
Although Pruett’s update didn’t say how many trees would be planted at Golden Park, only showing dates of demolition, Wednesday, and landscaping demolition, April 29, Gansauer told the Ledger-Enquirer that 87 trees are going to go back into a planting area.
“Eight-seven is the minimum, per the ordinance,” Gansauer said. “This is a high-profile city project. Let’s, as a city, do better than just the minimum.”
Has Gansauer signed a tree plan or site development plan for Golden Park?
“I will not sign off on anything because I keep hearing there are more plans coming, which means something can change with my signature on the plan.”
The trees at Golden Park are at least 20-30 years old, many are crepe myrtles.
This story was originally published April 10, 2024 at 12:00 PM.
