Friends of Schmidtville worry about potential loss of Morris Street trees

A group of residents in south end Halifax is worried that the city might follow through with a proposal that could see several trees removed to make way for new bike lanes.

Friends of Schmidtville, who live in the Heritage Conservation District roughly bordered by Queen, Clyde, Morris and South Park streets, gathered earlier this week to voice their concerns about the potential loss of trees on Morris Street.

The group has been putting up yellow posters around the area and on the trees that say “Not one tree down!” and share the group's concerns.

“It's very concerning that after all of the noise we've been making, they're not giving us any assurances that the tree removal is off the table,” Lara Cusson, owner of Café Lara and Friends of Schmidtville member, told CityNews Halifax.

The city has plans to improve the infrastructure on University Avenue and its continuation to Morris Street under a “complete streets” project. It aims to ensure all travellers — pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and transit users — can navigate through the south end.

The plan indicates that a bike lane along University Avenue and Morris Street would connect the Halifax Urban Greenway to Lower Water Street, as well as the Dalhousie University campuses and hospitals.

However, Cusson said the city is currently reviewing six proposals that'll install bike lanes on Morris Street, and four of them necessitate the removal of some of the streets mature trees.

“The fact that it's even considered is very concerning,” Cusson said. “The city of Halifax spent 10 years developing an Urban Forest Master Plan, and removing the trees is completely counterproductive.”

The city's 2013 Urban Forest Master Plan indicates that south end Halifax should see a rise in tree canopy coverage from 27 per cent to 70 per cent — a jump of 43 per cent.

“There are multiple alternatives, very viable alternatives, that could be looked at where trees can be saved,” Cusson said. “We live in this beautiful heritage conservation district and we have these beautiful, mature trees and it adds so much to Halifax.

“There's really no need to remove any of these trees at all. We've done extensive research and we can't find a single city where they tried to remove the trees to put in bike lanes — I think we can coexist.”

Cusson herself is a cyclist who's from Montreal. She said that city's bike lanes are a “joy” because cyclists are able to go between the trees and the traffic.

She said the group has already presented a plan with viable options to the city; they've measured the roads as well as ensured they met every bike lane requirement.

Still, they've struggled to get a response on the plan and were eventually told that the plan would not be considered.

She added that the city should be transparent and show the public what it's proposing and how many trees it plans to remove.

“It's happened already in other areas of HRM; in Dartmouth, for instance, trees have already come down for bike lanes,” she said. “It is happening in other areas. For folks who think, 'They would never do that,' they've done it already three or four times around HRM.

“They're proposing to do it in other streets such as Robie, up University near Dalhousie [University]. This is a real, real serious issue.”

Saltwire reported that Halifax public affairs advisor Brynn Budden said the municipality is still in the developing stages with a number of different proposals — some that would require the removal of trees and others not — that will be shared for public feedback later this year or in 2022.

District seven councillor Waye Mason said a new bike lane could be installed with only two or three trees being removed.

But the Friends of Schmidtville are still worried.

“I would love for the city to come out and say, 'You know what? That's not happening. We have a new proposal. We took time, we got creative and we found a way to keep the Urban Forest Master Plan intact,” Cusson said.