It appears more trees are set to be clear cut along Estes Drive in Chapel Hill.

Residents voiced their concern when land on Estes Drive was clear cut as construction is beginning on a retirement residence project. The mayor called the tree removal “heartbreaking” at the time.

Trees cut on Estes Drive making way for retirement residence. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Now a forestry permit has been pulled by a property owner to allow for the clear cutting of trees on nearly 15 acres at the northeast corner of Estes Drive and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard.

Town officials said in a release on Friday that the logging company was expected to move equipment onto the site on Saturday, June 9, and work could begin on Monday, depending on weather conditions.

“It’s actually listed as a timber property,” Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said. “And in order to comply with keeping your designation as that, you have to timber it every so often.”

Hemminger said the property was not timbered the last time it should have been and that there was the possibility of a pine beetle infestation that could damage the trees on that and the surrounding properties.

“We’re hoping for having conversations to have better selective cutting versus just clear cutting,” Hemminger said. “But I know it’s going to be really startling to all of us to see when this comes forward that way.

“It’s going to be really hard.”

Access to the site will be limited to a location on North Estes Drive, according to the town, and timbering work will be restricted to between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

The work is expected to take between two and four weeks, depending on weather conditions.

The town said in a release that the property owner will replant Loblolly Pines in areas where “natural regeneration is not successful.” That replanting will be required prior to December 2019. Officials said the property owner has also agreed to establish a 30-foot buffer adjacent to residents to the north and a 30-foot buffer “to help protect an ephemeral stream on the eastern edge of the property.” Selective cutting will be allowed in both buffer zones.

In addition to the retirement residence work going on at 700 North Estes Drive, a concept plan for a mixed-use center, which would also require tree removal, was reviewed by the Town Council last year. Land across Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and stretching into Carrboro is also under consideration for clear cutting to satisfy its timbering designation.

Photo via Town of Chapel Hill

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