A proposed development in the Stringtown neighborhood, just west of downtown, has neighbors concerned about crime, traffic, and transient neighbors. Some are also concerned about the trees, a few of which likely date back more than a century, that would need to come down to make way for the apartment complex.
The Annex Group, a Fishers-based developer, wants to build on a roughly three-acre lot sandwiched by Saulcy and Astor streets. The mostly abandoned site is one of the lushest pockets of the neighborhood. Vines and bushes grow out of and around empty homes, and the dense canopies of massive trees cast generous shade across the area.
Indianapolis considers five of those trees to be heritage specimens, meaning the city needs to approve their removal for development to proceed as planned.
Losing those trees would be like losing a neighbor, said Stringtown resident Crystal Rose, who for about two years has rented a home in the neighborhood just west of the Indianapolis Zoo.
“They’re really big and beautiful trees and people love to see them,” Rose said.
The heritage trees, and the several others on the lot, help fill out Stringtown’s somewhat meager foliage cover. Only 20% of the encompassing census block is covered in canopy, according to American Forests’s Tree Equity Score map, potentially depriving the area of many of the health benefits associated with tree-laden streets.
The developers of the proposed Union at Astor complex say they will replace the trees, adding the new complex will include green space and possibly community gardens. Still, advocates for Indy’s urban forest aren’t convinced that saplings can make up for lost mature trees.
Sunny streets and a shrinking canopy
The sidewalks that box in the proposed apartment complex are devoid of much foliage. On the east end of Saulcy Street, only one large tree throws shade across the street — and it grows on the lot set to be developed.
Annex Group does not have a tally of how many trees will be removed for the project, according to an emailed statement from Joy Skidmore, director of development. Several other trees grow in the footprint of the proposed apartment complex, including the five considered heritage specimens.
The heritage trees range in species, height and grandeur: there is a sugar maple, a black walnut, an eastern cottonwood and two eastern hackberries, one of which measures at 62 inches in diameter at breast height. Rose said she had hoped to nominate it for the Indiana Big Tree Register as she thinks it comes within 10% of the current record holding hackberry.
But far more than records may be at stake. Areas like Stringtown lacking trees can face hotter temperatures and more air pollution than adequately forested areas. On average, the census block encompassing Stringtown’s development is 10.1 degrees hotter than the surrounding urban area.
“An urban forest can reduce the temperature for a half a mile radius up to 6 degrees Fahrenheit,” Jonathan Munro, the director of the Indiana Forest Alliance’s Forests for Indy program, said. Some data suggest the cooling effect of trees can be even greater. Trees not only directly consume heat from the air, but shade from foliage provides relief from the sun for pedestrians and bikers.
According to Munro, a canopy cover of 20% in a residential neighborhood like Stringtown is “very low.” In contrast, a census block in Woodruff Place has a canopy cover of nearly 50%.
More: Tech helps Indy plan where to plant trees to reduce effects of rising temps, flooding
Jessy Baum, a local resident and a founder of the Stringtown Now neighborhood association, said she loves how walkable the area is but noted that shade is a pervasive issue.
“If you want it to be walkable, it has to be walkable in terms of can I walk down the block without getting heat stroke. And if there are no trees, that is a huge problem. There are no shade over the bus stops, there’s no shade on the bike paths. It’s a huge element of being able to exist in your community,” Baum said.
Annex Group plans to plant 96 trees on the lot of the new development. But for some, the promise of new saplings isn’t satisfying.
“This question of can you replace a heritage tree with essentially sticks or saplings? No. It will take many years for those plantings, if they survive, to contribute as much to the community as those mature trees,” Munro said.
Trees aren’t everyone’s priority right now
Tree removal is the least of other residents’ worries. City-county councilor Kristen Jones said the tree canopy has never come up as a problem in the neighborhood until now. Usually, she hears her constituents talk about issues with more immediate and visible consequences.
“I knock doors every single weekend. I knock in snow, I knock in rain, I knock in sunshine. I knock every single weekend. And what I hear about is infrastructure. It’s alleys, sidewalks, roads,” Jones said. “In my district, this is the first time I’ve heard about trees.”
From her perspective, the new apartment complex could be good for the community as the area’s other neighborhood association, led by president Frank Staples, has secured a benefits agreement with The Annex Group to provide funding for community needs, like water heaters or roof repairs.
Staples isn’t swayed by the conversation over the trees, either. He attributes most of the fuss to a small group of neighbors.
“I get [the trees] are old and they’ve been around for a lot of years, but they’re not like 300 or 400 years old,” Staples said.In Staples’s eyes, the 96 new trees will benefit the neighborhood.
The complex would also provide affordable housing, which Jones said is desperately needed in Indianapolis. In addition, current plans for the complex include a green space on the southeast corner of the lot.
Hearings and approvals for the project will continue through early July.
IndyStar’s environmental reporting is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Sophie Hartley is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach her at sophie.hartley@indystar.com or on X at @sophienhartley.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Proposed west side development would remove 5 heritage trees
