Trees set to fall over sewer work with city scrambling to see if mistakes were made

Residents of a tree-lined street in London's Old South neighbourhood are angry to learn that many of those trees will come down after city-contracted work will lower the street grade by about a foot. 

Work to replace old sewer and water lines on Tecumseh Avenue East began this spring. With the underground work now done and the street graded in preparation for repaving, new curbs were poured last week. 

That's when residents like Jennifer Odegaard noticed that the new curbs are lower — up to a foot and a half lower (45 centimetres) — than the ones they replaced. 

With the streets and curbs lowered, the bases of boulevard trees on Tecumseh are perched in many places more than a foot higher than the pre-construction grade. With the roots exposed, some of the trees are unstable and will have to come down. 

'We're going to lose these mature trees," Odegaard told CBC London on Monday. "This is Old South, this is supposed to be the Forest City, this is what London is known for. This is not part of the deal that was presented to us by the city [ahead of] doing infrastructure repair on our street."

Many residents are also upset that the new sidewalks — which are also lower — won't match the height of residents' front walks and steps. In some cases, unhappy residents are being told they'll get paved ramps to connect walks with sidewalks that met at grade before the work started.

AGM is a civil engineering consultant contracted by the city on the project. A manager at the company didn't want to comment when contacted by CBC London. He said the curb is at the correct height, but did not want to comment further, saying he would report to the city.

Ian Johnston is an arborist with Davey Resource Group, which was hired by AGM as a consultant on the project

He told CBC London he was also surprised by the lower grade of the new street and curbs. 

"I was aware there would be some grade change, but didn't know it would be this much," he said. "I wasn't aware in the initial stages of the project when we did the tree preservation assessments that it would be to this level of grade change."

Johnston couldn't say exactly how many trees on Tecumseh would be lost. He was still doing the assessment when CBC London caught up to him on Monday. 

Johnston said the trees lost to the construction will be replaced but likely with smaller, younger trees that will take 20 years or more to reach the size of the trees that will be removed. 

Johnston says he understands why residents aren't happy to learn that many of the street's trees will be removed. 

"A lot of the people that live in Old South live here because it's a treed environment, and this is going to change the look for this street," he said. "Especially if more trees come out, so I understand that."

Coun. Stephen Turner, whose ward includes Tecumseh Avenue East, said he's received 10 emails and two phone calls from residents since the new curbs were poured. 

He told CBC London he's meeting with staff to see what, if anything, went wrong. 

"We take it seriously and we're going to figure out what happened," he said. "It's concerning. We want to find the answers for it and make sure the right action is taken from here."

Work to replace aging water and sewer lines is underway on other streets in London's older neighbourhoods. North of Tecumseh, new curbs are being poured on Victor Street. Similar work is underway in the area of Cheapside Street and St. George Street in Old North. 

While she waits for answers, Odegaard is warning residents in other neighbourhoods to be aware of what happened on Tecumseh. 

In addition to the lost trees, she's angry that backfilling dirt to cover the new height difference and building new ramps and steps will ruin the street's aesthetic and drive down her property value. 

"It seems like they're just putting a Band-Aid on some sort of poor engineering design," she said.

"All the other streets in Old South and Old North ... had better watch because if this is the city's mandate, we're going to lose other trees."