County Says It Will Replace Trees Cut Down At Queen's Chapel Center

When a row of trees that lined Hamilton Street was buzzed down in November, residents and Hyattsville officials wondered what happened to them.

The debate over the trees started on a local listserve when a user posted a message asking why the trees along the “main street” area of Queen’s Chapel shopping center were cut down.

Ward 2 Councilmember Shani Warner responded quickly. She said the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works “erroneously removed the trees... at the request of a representative from the Queen’s Chapel Center, who was concerned that the trees were too tall and were covering business signs.”

Warner confirmed that the trees were cut without any kind of consultation with the city.

“I think this was a mistake and a series of miscommunications, not anyone trying to deliberately remove trees,” said Abbey Sandel, communications manager for Hyattsville.

Susan Hubbard, a county department of public works spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail that the trees were in the county maintained right-of-way and permission or notice to remove the trees was not required.

The row of red maple trees were put in place in the median along the sidewalk at Queen’s Chapel Center 14 years ago, according to Sandel. She said CBDG funds from the federal government were used to plant the trees.

Hubbard wrote that the trees were removed on Nov. 16 and 17 because their root system had created a tripping hazard and may disrupt the concrete sidewalk. She also reported that "the trees were a security concern associated with the shopping center." She said that business owners complained that the trees blocked the view from the outside into their businesses.

On Tuesday afternoon, the soil patches where the trees used to be had been freshly dug up. In one bed, a 5-foot sapling was braced by strings attached to posts.

Employees of Queen's Chapel Center businesses said the county had been out preparing the beds for new trees. They said the old trees were blocking their storefront signs and they believed that was hurting business.

“Everybody was complaining,” said Nancy Yang, the owner of Chapel Way Cleaners, “So the people that run this place, they complained about it.”

The property manager for Queen's Chapel Center did not return a request for comment.

“People pay for the signs,” said David Trejo, the assistant manager at Eagle Bazaar, “It was bad for business no one could see from the streets where the businesses were.” 

Area residents who enjoyed the trees were not pleased to see them removed.

“They provided shade in the summer, blossoms in the spring and color in the fall,” wrote Mark Graham in an e-mail. He said he walked by the trees daily to get to the Metro station.

“They brought a needed touch of natural beauty to a streetscape that, in general, is worn-out and uninspiring, if not downright ugly,” wrote Graham.

One listserve user called it “a stupid, boneheaded move” and another user, Jason, wrote, “This is sad, over time they would have been so nice over the street, all they needed to do was maintain them.”

On Tuesday, Jay Jones, a barber at Second Chance Hair, was looking through the big window of the barbershop to where the trees used to be. He said not all businesses at Queen’s Chapel Center wanted the trees to go.

Jones lamented the current appearence of the sidewalk, “We hate this, it looks naked out there, we need something... We said trim, not cut them completely down.”

The county is going to replace the maples with single stem crepe myrtles, according to Hubbard. The new trees will be planted in the spring. A PDF design of what the new trees will look like is attached to this article.