Save Battery Park City's Trees

Full email text Dear BPCA Board and Leadership, I am a Battery Park City resident. I support the North/West Resilience Project — but I am asking BPCA to pause all tree removal until the following three steps are completed. The current plan removes 435 mature trees — nearly 40% of every tree in the project area. These are 40-year-old trees that provide shade, absorb stormwater, and define the neighborhood. Of those 435, only 17 are being considered for transplanting — less than 4%. The rest will be cut down. BPCA has never classified which trees are genuinely in the path of the wall and which could be preserved. Without that analysis, there is no basis for concluding that every removal is necessary. Three steps would establish that basis: 1. File a USACE Vegetation Variance Request. The federal guidelines BPCA cites include a formal process for preserving trees near flood infrastructure. BPCA has never applied — and has never even contacted the USACE New York District about a variance. The Draft EIS committed to exploring the variance process; that commitment was struck from the Final EIS without explanation. Let the Army Corps' own specialists determine which trees can safely remain. 2. Publish a tree-by-tree removal classification. For each of the 435 trees marked for removal, disclose whether it is: (A) in the floodwall footprint, (B) within the 15-foot zone — a variance candidate, (C) in a temporary construction area — a transplant candidate, or (D) being removed for other reasons. Without this breakdown, the public has no way to evaluate which trees could be saved. 3. Submit the classification to independent review. Have the tree-by-tree assessment reviewed by qualified arborists and flood engineers who are not employed by BPCA's design-build contractor — professionals with no financial stake in the current plan. When the Wagner Park community hired the park's original designers, they proved a tree-preserving alternative was feasible. Residents deserve the same transparency here. The variance process is not theoretical. In Sacramento, the USACE approved a vegetation variance covering 42 miles of levees — one of the first ever granted — allowing trees to remain alongside flood infrastructure. In Idaho, the same 15-foot rule BPCA cites was challenged on a levee lined with mature pines; only dead trees were removed and every healthy tree was preserved. The 15-foot rule itself was reversed nationally in 2014 after Congress found it lacked site-specific engineering justification. BPCA has not even attempted this established pathway. We are not asking BPCA to stop the resilience project. We are asking BPCA to stop cutting trees until it has proven — tree by tree, with independent verification — that every removal is necessary and every alternative has been exhausted. Floodwall construction can proceed in sections that don't require tree removal while this assessment is completed. Thank you, [Your Name] [Your Address in Battery Park City]