An Update to “Four Well Lit Trees”

by Don Moniak

June 26, 2023

This past week some new information about the Farmer’s Market/Williamsburg Street redevelopment project (1) emerged:

• There are two versions of one plan. Both are dated October 19, 2023. The amended version reduced the scope of work. The changes are undated.
• The number of trees cut at the end of May 2023 were planned to be cut. The only change on the ground is one additional leave tree was cut. 
• One of the trees cut was part of the city’s widespread Arboretum, a difficult to obtain Carribean Pine (Pinus elliotii var. Densa) specimen. What was an impressive complete collection of Southern U.S. pine species is now incomplete.
• The lighting plan is being deferred to another future contract. 
• The future ownership of Farmer’s Market remains unknown. 

One Plan, Two Versions

There is and was a single, October 19, 2022, Cranston Engineering Project Permit Plan. The ‘second plan” is actually an amended plan with several tasks removed (see example below) from the contract or altered. Most notable is the removal of the electrical lighting and installation plan, which itself was added to the bid package on December 13, 2022.

Additional issues include:

• The date of the streetscape revisions are unknown, but probably originated prior to the February 15, 2023 bid award to Quality Plus Services. The bid award letter states there was a “revised quote of $1,483,465.55;” which was more than $400,000 over-budget.
• All the documents remain buried and hard to access (2) in the City’s document repository. The original 10/19/22 plan (3) has been removed and replaced by a more user friendly version of the final “approved plan” which is still dated 10/19/22. 
• Cranston Engineering’s $23,000 Conceptual  Design has still not been publicly  disclosed. 

Tree Protection Plan Unchanged

The Project Permit Plan contains a “Tree Protection Plan.” That plan remained the same in the revision. Both versions feature an ‘Existing Conditions” drawing showing thirteen trees, by species and diameter, in the redevelopment area.

Both versions of the Tree Protection Plan (below) show the same four trees to be left. No mistakes were made. The nine trees designated to be cut in the original and the amended plan were cut and removed.

One additional tree designated as a leave tree, a 14-inch diameter Red Maple was also cut and removed due to it being along a planned irrigation line, leaving a total of three remaining trees.

The end result was a loss of 80 percent of the canopy cover and shade in the area around the market itself, and a thirty three percent loss within the two-acre project area. Not including the 42-inch oak remaining in the southern half of the parkway, the loss of shade is closer to sixty percent. (4)

The other significant aspect is the loss of all young trees in very good condition.

Arboretum Specimen Removed

Among the trees removed was a fourteen inch diameter Caribbean Pine—also known as South Florida Slash Pine—(Pinus elliotii var. Densa). The tree was planted twenty years ago by Bob McCartney of Woodlanders Nursery. The tree was part of the widespread city Arboretum composed of native trees and shrubs and rare specimens from many foreign nations; all planted and cultivated over the past forty years by Woodlanders.

McCartney told WRDW-News of Augusta: “‘I was very upset that it was done because we had specimens of every pine species native to the southern United States already in our collection.’”

Unfortunately, the combination of the tree being identified merely as a “14 inch Pine” on the Existing Conditions page, and a failure to notify Woodlanders (or anyone else) of the plan to remove any trees, led to the removal of the unusual and probably irreplaceable specimen, leaving an incomplete southern pine collection. (5)

Lighting Plan Deferred

Nearly all of the lighting plan that included four-sided illumination of the remaining trees is deferred for another contract. The lighting plan (below) states “no electrical work to be included in this contract, except for conduit.” A future contract would be needed to complete the lighting plan.

Therefore the plan is still open to debate. A lightning plan that includes illumination of remaining veteran trees was made with no consideration for the effects of on wildlife. Artificial lighting has negative effects on the foraging and nesting habits of birds. The cosmetic design element is unnecessary—particularly in light of the substantial cost overruns that have already plagued the project.

The Future Ownership and Operation of Farmer’s Market

As reported in “Divesting of Parks and Open Space,” the Farmer’s Market was on a list of city park properties targeted for possible divestment.

The list is within a Parks, Recreation, and Tourism report titled “City of Aiken Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Need Assessment and Strategic Plan,”

The plan, which was adopted by a City Council resolution on August 8, 2022, recommended: “Consider divesting of some neighborhood parks and facilities.” The candidates included most of the neighborhood parks in Northeast Aiken and Farmer’s Market.

After some public outcry over the plan, in October 2022 City Council verbally committed to not closing any existing parks—but did not strike the recommendation from the report and did not address Farmer’s Market. It is still official policy that parks could still be closed and Farmer’s Market could still face “divestment.”

Farmer’s Market did not come up in the conversation. The market is currently managed by the same Parks and Recreation Department that sought to close or sell parks.

What divestment of Farmer’s Market could mean is privatization—contracting with a private entity to manage and operate the facility. City Council has been mute on this possibility.

The Farmer’s Market redevelopment plan includes construction of single family homes on private property to the west of the market; and apartments and retail space on the city-owned Jackson Petroleum property—unless it is discovered to be too contaminated for any residential development. The combined effect of a privatized Farmer’s Market with an upscale housing and retail development (see below) on existing vendors has yet to be evaluated.

Footnotes

(1) An abbreviated timeline of the Farmer’s Market/Williamsburg Street Redevelopment Project

March 2021: Aiken Municipal Development Commission (AMDC) purchased three parcels for $175,000.  The properties on the east side of Williamsburg Street across from Farmer’s market are collectively referred to as the Jackson Petroleum property

May 2021: AMDC released Concept Plan by Origin Landscape Architecture. The AMDC described the Concept Plan as “aspirational,” and not final. The plan envisioned apartments and retail on the Jackson Petroleum property, new single family homes on the The report was not a redevelopment plan as required by the Community Development Act. 

2021-2023; Environmental investigations by Terracon; which delay pursuing the entire AMDC side of the project.

September 5, 2022. Large signs with no contact information announcing an upcoming AMDC redevelopment project are installed.

October 2022: Final Design completed by Cranston Engineering.

November 17, 2022; Pre-bid conference held.

February 12. 2023. $1.4 million contract awarded to Quality Plus Services.

May 29, 2023; Work begins.

(2) The plans are found within the procurement section of the city’s document repository. To reach them;

1. Go to the repository page.
2. Click the home button
3. Scroll to the bottom to ‘website.”
4. Click procurement
5. Click bids
6. Click archived bids
7. Find “E&U. Williamsburg Street” in a long list of ten years of archived contracts.

(3) Whether the city archived the original is unknown. A file was created prior to publication of “Four Well Lit Trees” but is 63 mb and difficult to share at this time.

(4) Listing of trees removed and left.

(5) The Caribbean Pine/South Florida Slash Pine was also misidentified in the city’s tree inventory as a Longleaf Pine.