Millwood Shady Lanes May Receive Protection

A canopy of maple leaves drapes Liberty Avenue in Millwood.

Rows of trees form similar leafy arches elsewhere around the town of Millwood.

“When the leaves are out, it’s like driving through a tunnel of trees,” Cliff Porter said. “It’s beautiful.”

And the Millwood Urban Tree Board Steering Committee is trying to keep it that way.

Porter is the chairman of the committee, a fledgling group writing an urban tree ordinance to protect Millwood’s public trees. The ordinance would ensure the proper care, replacement and additions of trees in the public right of way. It would also provide protection for homeowners against indiscriminate cutting or removal of the trees by utility companies and other agencies in both the public and private sector.

Public education and an inventory of all the town’s public trees are also priorities for the group.

The steering committee meets the second Thursday of every month in the Millwood Town Hall.

Advice from local foresters and other tree experts is being sought to help write the ordinance. Sharon Vore, a forester for Washington Water Power, offered advice Thursday night about pruning and how other towns in Washington and Idaho have handled their ordinances.

A rash of complaints about the way trees were being cared for around town was the reason Heather Cannon, a planner for the town of Millwood, started the group.

“I could’ve written an ordinance and got it passed,” said Cannon, who acts as the facilitator for the meetings. “But since I was receiving so many complaints, I thought the citizens should do the work.”

Phone calls from citizens concerned about late-night tree trimming, the lack of citizen input before public trees were removed and the uncertainty of whether a tree was public or private were a few of the concerns Cannon was hearing.

The committee hopes to finish final revisions to the draft by the November meeting. The draft will then be submitted for hearings before the a State Environmental Protection Act board, the planning commission and the town council.

But residents say maintaining the picturesque streets is worth the effort.

“As long as I live in Millwood, those trees are going to be there,” Bob Manklin said, referring to a row of trees along Empire Avenue. Manklin attended the steering committee’s meeting last Thursday, but has yet to join the committee.

Residents said the lush, green trees offer cool summer-time shade, autumn color and a splash of character to the neatly kept neighborhoods.

“It’s a nice presentation,” Porter said. “It looks good to the eye.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo