The removal of nine mature oak trees near Bienville Square in downtown Mobile has prompted city leaders to reexamine how such decisions get approved, with council members now looking at ways to tighten protections for the city’s tree canopy.
The trees were cleared roughly two weeks ago from a site just north of the square to make way for a new hotel development. The move drew sharp criticism from nearby residents, some of whom placed blame squarely on city officials for allowing it to happen without more scrutiny.
City Councilman Levon Manzie, whose district includes downtown, said he is working with the council’s attorney and the mayor’s administration on potential fixes. Ideas under discussion include routing future tree-removal requests through the Mobile Tree Commission for review and possibly expanding the boundaries of the city’s historic districts to cover more downtown properties.
“What we would like to see is all of those kinds of requests be routed through our tree commission,” Manzie said, adding that bringing more of downtown under historic-district status would mean far more properties face the same level of design scrutiny already applied within existing districts, where details as small as paint colors and fence heights are reviewed.
The hotel site sits just outside the boundary of one of downtown’s existing historic districts, meaning it wasn’t subject to that layer of review. Residents have argued the same level of attention given to approving the building’s design should have extended to preserving the mature trees on the property.
Bill Boswell, president of a recently revived historic neighborhood association, was among those who addressed the council directly this week, saying the incident exposed gaps in the city’s permitting and planning process. He urged council members and the mayor’s office to work with residents to prevent similar losses in the future, calling the city’s oak canopy one of downtown’s most valuable assets.
Manzie and other council members indicated they are receptive to finding a solution, though no formal proposal has been drafted yet. Any changes would likely need to go through the standard process of council review and public input before taking effect.
City officials have not said whether new trees will be planted at the hotel site to help offset the loss.