A few trees in Hollinger Park will be escaping the chainsaw.
Timmins City Council has voted to have staff spare two of the park’s biggest and oldest trees from being cut down during the remediation work because they provide lots of shade close to the playground.
Over the past few weeks the topic of trees started a controversial debate on social media. The debate started on the August long weekend with people posting about how all the trees in the park were being cut down during the remediation work. The city sent out a press release shortly after clarifying some of the misinformation.
City Hall says is doing remediation work because there are higher than normal levels of lead and arsenic in the surface soil at the park. City staff says there is a fenced off area where all the trees will be chopped down.
Mayor Steve Black says the two old trees aren’t the only trees that will be staying in place.
Black says the remediation work also includes leveling out the splash pad area, putting in a new base to the splash pad and removing sand and brick to be compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
Black says this is a multi-year plan with crews doing the work in sections. He says eventually work will move to the Fred Salvador Field, right across the parking lot, to redo the baseball diamond and refurbish the grandstands.