[COM] Victoria Square Upgrade - $24m

[claybro]

Welcome mackonamy, clearly I share your sentiments the the lemon scented gums, and also like the plane and chinese elms, but in the interest of some variety, I do beleive we still need some plantings of eucalyts, in a way that is sympathetic with the surroundings. We should be well happy with this compromise, and lets hope it now spreads to the parklands where exotic trees are being removed en masse to be replaced with forrests of messy scrub, despite there never being more water available. However, time to move on from the tree debate when it comes to vic SQ. A good outcome was had.

[mackonamy]

That's fair enough, but I think the variety shouldn't be so poorly clumped together. For example, evergreens and gums in one park, then another park with deciduous. Isn't that the decision now for Vic Square - just the 100 plane trees?

[mattblack]

The Plane trees will be for the central area and there will still be lemon sented gums on the peripheral of the square once the road re-alignment has taken place. They're just trees, can we pleeeze move on!

[UrbanSG]

Some recent pics of the tree and paving removal from people posting on flickr:


I am extremely surprised that they could just cut down all these trees in Victoria Square. I figured they'd at least have tried to move them. #adelaide by johnbormann, on Flickr


Decimation in Victoria Square, Adelaide CBD by StephenMitchell, on Flickr

[[Shuz]]

The Plane trees will be for the central area and there will still be lemon sented gums on the peripheral of the square once the road re-alignment has taken place. They're just trees, can we pleeeze move on!

Not anymore. Council have now voted to get rid of the lemon scented gums entirely, and plant only plane trees.

[skyliner]

While I like lemon scented gums, there is a safety issue - they have a habit of dropping limbs - unannounced - no noise etc etc.In this way they are like the 'widow makers' along the Murray. They leave huge and prolonged messes when shedding bark also. I prefer the plane trees.

ADELAIDE - TOWARDS A GREATER CITY SKYLINE

[Wayno]

Not anymore. Council have now voted to get rid of the lemon scented gums entirely, and plant only plane trees.

the Ragvertiser is having a field day with this topic. Latest news is the ACC being slammed for proposing plane trees. sigh. I propose VSQ be filled with stobie poles & wires.

A TREE expert has taken aim at City councillors for their "ignorant" decision to plant plane trees in Victoria Square.

A council committee this week decided to plant 100 plane trees as part of the square's makeover instead of lemon scented gums, following complaints about the risk of gums dropping limbs.

Street tree research organisation TreeNet director David Lawry said concentrated plantings of plane trees led to "huge problems with allergies" from the pollen and fine hairs they dropped.

"Plane trees have a persistent impact on human health," he said, adding allergy problems were rife in European cities such as Paris, where plane trees comprised close to 40 per cent of all street plantings.
more...

[Maximus]

Street tree research organisation TreeNet director David Lawry said concentrated plantings of plane trees led to "huge problems with allergies" from the pollen and fine hairs they dropped.

Just as I predicted on the previous page!

[mackonamy]

"Huge problem with allergies"? I doubt it, sounds like a massive exaggeration / overstatement to me. I think people who complain about allergies are being damn fussy. Plane trees are everywhere in Australia and they do not cause significant problems to most people I know. Wear a mask if it's such an issue to you, like they do in Japan (albeit for different reasons).

And they are not just trees. Trees enhance the aesthetic appearance of public developments if they are planted right (and the right type of tree is selected). I think gums belong in the bush, where they can't cause anybody problems. Stick with the plane tree, and suck up your allergy problems, IMO. Tough luck.

[Waewick]

hang on so the allergies are overstated but falling limbs aren't?

seems like an overreaction all round.

[Matt]

They could run through the list of every available specie of tree, and The Advertiser would still manage to find someone who was offended or outraged in some way.

[Matt]

...that first photo made me GRIN.
Brilliant to finally see signs of action.

[mackonamy]

hang on so the allergies are overstated but falling limbs aren't?

seems like an overreaction all round.

Mate, allergies aren't a big deal. Take an antihistamine. Plane trees all the way, they will cause the least amount of problems and they are the nicest.

[mattblack]

The Plane trees will be for the central area and there will still be lemon sented gums on the peripheral of the square once the road re-alignment has taken place. They're just trees, can we pleeeze move on!

Not anymore. Council have now voted to get rid of the lemon scented gums entirely, and plant only plane trees.

I'm in pretty regular contact with the project team (far more than you im guessing) and that is the current state of play. Even though this project has been through an extensive 18 month planning project and public consultation there are still changes being made by the request of Councillors and DPTI so yes, the tree situation might continue to change. As I said, can we move on from this inane debate?

[ml69]

The Plane trees will be for the central area and there will still be lemon sented gums on the peripheral of the square once the road re-alignment has taken place. They're just trees, can we pleeeze move on!

Not anymore. Council have now voted to get rid of the lemon scented gums entirely, and plant only plane trees.

I'm in pretty regular contact with the project team (far more than you im guessing) and that is the current state of play. Even though this project has been through an extensive 18 month planning project and public consultation there are still changes being made by the request of Councillors and DPTI so yes, the tree situation might continue to change. As I said, can we move on from this inane debate?

Mattblack, a question for you given that you are in regular contact with the project team ...

Stage 1 plans now include plane trees lining each side of the event lawn, but the curved arbours flanking the event lawn are also planned in a future stage of the Vic Sq redevelopment. Do you know if this is still the plan? Hence the arbours will overlook the trees, overlooking the event lawn.

Previous earlier renders show the arbours directly overlooking the event lawn, with no trees in between .... so this appears to be a design change?