Design & Inspiration Today: The best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago!
Trees along Yale in Heights given special protection
Hundreds of live oaks along Yale part of city's first 'green corridor'
September 18, 2016 Updated: September 18, 2016 7:28pm
More than 500 live oaks planted nearly 30 years ago along Yale in the Houston Heights received special protection Sunday.
The trees, which line a 1.6-mile stretch of Yale between 6th Street and 19th Street, officially were proclaimed part of Houston's first "green corridor," a move by city leaders intended to protect the mature trees from developers and others who may want to cut them down. In a ceremony at a former fire station in the Heights, local political leaders said they hoped other tree-laden areas of Houston would be similarly set aside for protection.
"We're very excited about where this will go," Houston City Councilman David Robinson said.
Houston City Council in June voted to grant the Yale designation to protect trees measuring 15 inches or more in diameter. Commercial property owners who want to remove any protected trees would have to get approval from the city first. Volunteers collected signatures from commercial property owners along the 1.6-mile length of roadway who OK'd the special protection.
The day was a long time coming for Donna Bennett, who has lived in the Heights for 23 years and was one of the volunteers who established the green corridor. Bennett said she admires the green canopy overhead every day as she drives down Yale.
"The neighborhood is changing," Bennett said, referring to increased traffic and new apartment construction on the stretch of land that combines ramshackle houses and empty storefronts with new townhouses.
Debbie Broman, a founding member of Trees for Yale, got involved in the tree planting project when she bought a house on Yale in 1985. At the time, she said, the street was barren.
"We wanted a reflection of the neighborhood, not as a major thoroughfare," said Broman, who got choked up as she made her presentation to the small group sitting on folding chairs at the old fire station.
With the help of Trees for Houston and the Greater Heights Chamber of Commerce, volunteers raised enough money to buy seedlings and plant them on both sides of the four-lane road in 1986. Volunteers kept them watered and fought city efforts to expand the roadway, which would have eliminated many of the trees. Over the years, only about 30 of the live oaks perished, Broman said.
As the Heights neighborhood was considering ways to protect the trees, civic leaders discovered a 1991 ordinance regarding the designation of green corridors as part of a larger effort to beautify the city and improve quality of life in neighborhoods. Until then, the ordinance never had been used.
As part of the celebration on Sunday, Trees for Houston and the Houston Heights Association gave away about 120 trees to residents, including pines, sycamores and crape myrtles.
