River Street Committee Backs Design Concept, Confronts Tree Losses

NEWBERG, Ore. — The Newberg River Street Ad Hoc Committee voted July 16 to recommend the city proceed with developing the basic roadway cross-section of the “Talt Plan” for reconstructing South River Street. The committee left a tree replacement plan and a possible raised intersection at Ninth Street for a future meeting before any final recommendation goes to the City Council. 

In a companion motion, the committee committed the city to treating preservation of the corridor’s roughly 58-foot footprint as a primary objective of the project’s upcoming request for proposals.

The committee will meet again on August 18, and if action items are completed, will forward their recommendations to city council in September.

The Talt Plan design calls for a 22- to 24-foot roadway with two travel lanes, bike lanes at least 5 feet wide on each side, a 6-foot planter strip serving as a stormwater facility, and 5-foot sidewalks. Full-depth reconstruction would run from Fourth Street to 11th Street.

Keller Engineering, the city’s contracted engineering firm, cautioned the 58-foot target cannot be guaranteed at every point without a completed land survey, since yards, driveways, and utilities vary block by block.

The committee formed after the city’s original three rebuild concepts, presented at a March open house created by Keller Engineering staff without resident input, drew organized opposition over the proposed designs, which would largely eliminate the street’s tree canopy close to the street, as well as encroach on land that is city-owned but sits within River Street residents’ frontages.

The City Council created the seven-member panel in April, with four seats reserved for River Street residents.

Tree Losses Still Likely

Oregon Department of Forestry foresters who walked the corridor July 16 told the committee that most trees within the planter strip cannot realistically be saved under the current design because construction would cut through their critical root zones. Trees farther back on private property, they said, would need individual evaluation by a consulting arborist, with several appearing preservable.

“The reality is we’re dealing with a street that has been dealt with in an inappropriate way for years and years,” said City of Newberg Public Information Officer Emily Salisbury. “We didn’t have leadership brave enough to face the different community conversations.”

Salisbury said a mature Big Leaf Maple was removed on River Street last week between Fourth and Fifth streets. During the ODF examination related to the River Street project, arborists found that a 20-foot, 10-inch-thick branch had fallen off and was suspended among the other branches above a high-voltage power line. If that branch were to fall, it would risk snapping the power line, leading to fire and electrical danger on the ground below as well as power outages in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The city immediately contacted an arborist to remove the branch, Salisbury said, at which point they found the core of the branch was rotted. Upon further examination, they found the rest of the tree was rotted in the core and posed a danger of falling in the near future, setting up the urgent need for removal.

That tree is likely representative of the other largest and oldest trees on the street, Salisbury said.

“We heard from ODF who said that the trees, while providing the beautiful canopy and wide trunks, appear to still have life with new leaves amongst some dead branches,” she said. “But the truth is the trees are not thriving anymore.”

The foresters also confirmed the detection of emerald ash borer in Newberg, meaning any ash trees along the corridor will need removal within about five years regardless of the street project, and recommended replacement trees at roughly 3-inch caliper to reduce transplant shock.

A draft “River Street Tree Program,” still under committee revision, calls for at least two replacement tree options per side of the street at 4-inch caliper or larger. The committee, in collaboration with City of Newberg planner and landscape architecture expert Leanne Wagener, is developing a list of replacement trees that will support the street’s goals while providing a strong canopy in the future.

The draft would also have the city replace any tree removed or damaged by the project and fund about four years of post-planting watering.

River Street resident Tricia Gates Brown, who has attended every River Street Ad Hoc committee meeting, said most neighbors she has spoken with support the plan despite the cost.

“A majority of neighbors I’ve spoken with support moving forward with [The Talt Plan] in lieu of the factors involved,” Brown said. “However, this does not mean grief is not felt by the neighborhood. This has been an arduous process, and neighbors will be sacrificing the historic feel of our neighborhood in order to support this development project, namely in the removal of all trees in the green strip between the sidewalk and road.”

New trees, she said, will take more than a decade to approach the shade the street’s canopy trees provide now.

“Neighbors are well educated about the contingencies of this development project and well aware of the reasons trees will be lost as development proceeds — and still, grief is broadly felt,” she said.

Salisbury said the ad hoc committee has been such a positive step in increasing communication between residents and government that city staff hopes to lead with ad hoc committees in the future rather than establish them retroactively. The insight into the community’s desires helps balance neighborhood character and facilities what she said is the city’s responsibility to provide safe and effective infrastructure to the entire community.

“If I were choosing a home, I’d love to have a street with beautiful mature trees on it,” she said. “But I think that we’re at a place where we can accept that it’ll have to change.”

The committee’s next meeting on Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. is set to focus on finalizing the tree plan and on an undecided raised-intersection design at Ninth Street. Engineering staff also agreed to report back within about two weeks on cost and safety comparisons between raised concrete intersections and standard designs.

A land survey and formal request for proposals are expected to follow, with informal discussion suggesting the full package of committee recommendations could reach the City Council as soon as its first meeting in September. The timing will depend on further actions from both the ad hoc committee and the City Council.