• Home Delivery
• Customer Services
• Contact Us

Print | Email |

Siberian elm chopped down in Kingsport historic district - neighbors irked

 

Gilliams Tree Service crew members remove the remains of an elm chopped down in front of the TriSummit Bank site near Church Circle in Kingsport. Photo by Kacie Breeding/Timesnews.net.

In August, TriSummit Bank CEO Lynn Shipley said an elm that stood many years in front of a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the Church Circle historic district would be preserved.

That promise turned to sawdust, along with the old elm, which was cut down and chopped up Monday afternoon by a crew from Gilliams Tree Service.

"Another piece of history down the drain," lamented neighbor Willie Babb.

Another neighbor, Thelma Rector, expressed disappointment that Shipley hadn't kept his word. When they promise to preserve a tree, that's what they ought to do, she said.

Babb and Rector are residents of the historic district, where the Kingsport Historic Zoning Commission just distributed flyers reminding them any changes to their homes’ exteriors require commission approval.

Rector admitted, as far as she knows, she doesn’t need KHZC approval to alter the trees in her yard.

Gilliams Tree Service owner Ray Gilliam, an ISA-certified arborist, along with Sullivan County extension agent Chris Ramsey and UT extension forester Dr. Wayne Clatterbuck all examined the tree before it was cut down.

"I hated to see it go," said managing partner Eric Gilliam, also ISA-certified, who said Monday that the tree was brittle and weak and probably would've stood only another few years if they'd left it alone.

"It (was) a high-maintenance tree," Ramsey said, and it was a Siberian elm, not native to this area. It would have constantly dropped limbs, he said. Over 40 percent of its root system lay under the parking lot.

Shipley said when he went before the commission in Aug., he told them he was having the tree evaluated.
Clatterbuck reportedly concurred with Ramsey’s evaluation of the Siberian elm. The Easter freeze and persistent drought conditions, they believed, had drastically reduced its life expectancy.

Shipley said he decided to cut the tree down based on the general consensus that the tree wouldn't live much longer anyway if they left it standing, and if they tried to save it by pruning the dead limbs out, it wouldn't look right.

"I personally wanted to save that tree," Shipley said.

But instead of pruning away the beauty of the tree just to keep it standing for what might be only a few more years, Shipley said he made the tough decision to cut it down.

Shipley's plans for converting the old AEP building location into a TriSummit Bank site were approved by a 3-2 vote in Aug. when he presented his proposal to commission.

Historic zoning commission OKs bank’s plans for AEP building

Home | Login | Local News | Obits | Sports | Business | Opinions | Blogs | Classifieds| Business Profiles

Web Feeds/RSS | Contact Us | Customer Service | Privacy Statement | Common Questions | E-Edition | Subscriptions | Site Map

© 2009 Kingsport Publishing Corporation - Innovation by Times Digital Group