Clarksville, TN – Clarksville Parks and Recreation and Clarksville Street Department workers will gather at 7:00am Sunday, October 6th, 2019 to begin planting 15 new trees and adding 10 new planters along the 100 block of Franklin Street in Downtown Clarksville.
“We are trying to minimize any adverse impacts to businesses,” Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts said. “So the work will begin early on Sunday, when shops and restaurants are closed, and we hope to have the plantings wrapped up as soon as possible.”
In July, City officials announced a revised plan for replacing trees and landscape elements along Franklin Street. Essentially, the new plan calls for replanting fewer trees than were removed earlier this year, and adding several new concrete planters filled with grasses and flowers matching the landscaping used at nearby Downtown Commons.
In May, 22 overgrown and declining little-leaf lindens were removed from the street side tree wells in the 100 block of Franklin Street. At the time, the plan was simply to replant new trees in the wells. In March, eight trees had been replaced in the 200 block of Franklin Street near the Transit Parking Garage.
However, after more analysis by the City Forester and input from downtown merchants and property owners, a new plan was developed for Franklin between First and Second streets. It calls for planting 15 Rotundilobas, a fruitless sweetgum tree, in the tree wells less susceptible to being hit by vehicles. The other tree wells will be covered with large concrete planters.
“We always wanted some trees in the streetscape along Franklin,” Mayor Pitts said. “So we’re placing fewer trees, but a variety with a better size and shape, and some more planters. This all is designed to make the plantings easier to maintain, and to make the tree placements less prone to parallel-parking damage.”
The balled and burlapped 12-foot tall sweetgum trees have been stored in Liberty Park. On Sunday, they will be moved and planted along Franklin Street by the Forestry Division, which is part of the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department, with help from the Clarksville Street Department equipment operators and laborers.
In preparation, repairs and additions to the lighting and electrical systems have been made to preserve adequate outlets and to provide new fixtures designed to provide “up-lighting” of the trees.
