Neighbors go all-out to save oaks

The 150-year-old oaks form a canopy over Marcy Street, makingneighbors feel as if they live in the middle of a forest.

Now residents on Marcy in northwest Evanston are bandingtogether to save the oaks. They fear the trees will be destroyed bya sewer project planned for their street.

Neighbors there are asking the City of Evanston and HarzaEngineering, which designed the project, to reconsider whether to adda 45-foot-deep relief sewer and new water main on their street.

"These are shallow-rooted trees, and they won't survive thiskind of damage," said Karen Korn, a resident of the 2400 block ofMarcy. Korn has worked as a plant researcher at the Chicago BotanicGarden in Glencoe.

But Richard Figurelli, Evanston's superintendent of water andsewers, said the city will work with an arborist to ensure that treesare not damaged.

The city is in the seventh year of a 10-year, $153 million sewerproject designed to prevent basement flooding.

"We haven't lost a tree in seven years," Figurelli said.

Marcy Street neighbors say their street deserves to be sparedconstruction because it is in the middle of an oak grove thatincludes about 130 trees.

"They couldn't help but do damage to some of the trees becausethe street is very narrow and there are so many trees," Korn said.

The majestic oaks helped draw Sally Ennis and her husband to theneighborhood 22 years ago.

"This is more than our hearts can bear," Ennis said. "We don'twant to lose these trees because they're in front of all the houseson the block and they're beautiful."

Figurelli said the city can't move the project from MarcyStreet because the street needs the new water main and reliefsewers.

Residents passed out fliers Tuesday urging people to callFigurelli with their concerns.

Figurelli said moving the project would add $1 million to theprojected $5.8 million cost of the Marcy Street phase.

The debate comes as the city's administration and public workscommittee draft a new ordinance designed to protect trees from severetrims. The ordinance would require companies to obtain permitsbefore trimming trees more than 3 inches in diameter.