12 Overland Park neighborhoods targeted for ash tree removal

The distance is concentrated in 12 districts

According to city documents, these are the neighborhoods that will be the focus of ash removal:

• Beverly Estates & Beverly Hills
• Antioch/87. corridor
• Hanover
• Oak Park & ​​Oak Park Mansion
• summer crest
• Highcroft
• Kensington Manor
• Regency Lake
• Hampton Place
• Blackthorne Estates
• The wilderness and the wilderness valley
• Indian Creek Estates

Maps showing which trees would be removed in each of these neighborhoods can be found here.

“These are places where I’ve either already made major removal efforts, or I’ve just deleted hotspots from trees on the inspection list,” Overland Park ranger Bailey Patterson told the committee Wednesday.

Trees on private property will not be removed

• The plan is to remove all ash trees on public paths in these neighborhoods.
• Patterson said residents would be notified with door hangers seven to 10 days before the removal process begins in their neighborhoods.
• Once all ash street trees were removed from a subdivision, Looks Great Services returned a few weeks later to grind down stumps and plant grass seed.
• Even after those trees are removed, Patterson said the city will have about 6,000 ash street trees left that will need to be removed at some point in the future.

Overland Park will use federal funds for the project

• The committee approved the use of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for the removal of the ash tree.
• Funds from APRA, the nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package that President Biden signed into law in 2021, can be used on a variety of city spending, according to the Government Finance Officers’ Association.
• Patterson said without the additional ARPA funding, the city’s current operating budget would only be able to remove up to 500 ash street trees in a year.
• “At this rate of about 8,000 [ash trees] left, it would take us 15 years to remove those trees,” Patterson said. “And at the rate at which they’re declining, that’s just not sustainable.”

The removal could begin as early as March

• However, the bid must first receive final approval from Overland Park City Council before the city’s contract can be finalized with Looks Great Services.
• The contractor’s goal, Patterson said, is to have all of the ashes cut down within about four months of construction beginning.
• New trees from the city’s approved street tree species list would then be planted that fall to replace the ash trees.

go deeper: Overland Park is intensifying its efforts to cut down damaged ash trees