CORNWALL – Around 60 dead or dying trees along Brookdale Avenue will be replaced this fall, the city’s infrastructure division manager says.
In May, Municipal Parks Supervisor Scott Porter, who is also a certified arborist, told Cornwall Newswatch that 63 trees were dead or in poor condition between Water Street and Seventh Street West. That’s about a quarter of all the trees between Water Street and the Rotary Traffic Circle.
At a May council meeting, Coun. Claude McIntosh brought up his concerns about the condition of the trees and the grass along Cornwall’s busiest corridor between Highway 401 and the United States.
In a recent interview with Newswatch, Michael Fawthrop says those trees will be replaced under warranty this fall. They were part of the planting and landscaping for the $75 million North Channel Bridge project.
“We’ve notified the contractor and the contractor is going to replace them in the fall when it’s the best planting season. They have committed to replace all the trees that have died,” Fawthrop said.
As for the dying sod, the city is out of luck.
“A lot of the sod is not included in the warranty. The warranty for the trees is two years but the warranty for the overall work is one. A lot of it was due to a lack of maintenance (and) that would be the city’s responsibility,” he told Newswatch.
Fawthrop added that the city “may not be replacing” some of that sod.
The corridor opened to traffic in June 2017 and the planting happened shortly after, meaning the city was able to get those dead or dying trees replaced under warranty.