The City of Centralia is using the second half of the 2025 calendar year to evaluate its downtown trees and replace empty positions, as well as trees damaging sidewalks and roadways.
Currently, the city has 124 total tree planting areas, including 75 Norway maples, 12 Japanese cherry trees and 37 empty positions — 27 of which are shrouded by concrete and 10 of which are in open landscaping areas. Assistant Public Works Director Andy Oien told the Centralia City Council last Tuesday that the city’s priority is to fill in those empty positions, which are spots where trees once stood but have not been replaced.
The city is proposing to use the 2025 planting season in the fall and winter seasons to plant in eight different open positions, half of which stemming from the intersection of Tower Avenue and Locust Street. Staff plan to spend a total of $12,000 to replace the open positions with the council’s permission using a budget amendment to add the funds from the undesignated fund balance for the downtown tree project. The cost per location is an estimated $1,500 for trees and materials only and does not include labor and equipment.
In the future, the city is also looking to replace some of its downtown maple and cherry trees. Oien said some Norway maples have grown too large and have outgrown their environment for the downtown area. He presented a photo of a maple at the corner of Centralia College Boulevard and Pearl Street that has damaged the sidewalk.
“What you see is this Norway maple, which is a large, mature, beautiful tree, but the problem is the diameter of the trunk is lifting the curb. It’s cracking the sidewalk, and it’s also grown large enough to start to heave up the road,” Oien said. “It’s really damaging city infrastructure. What we have found is these trees were an inappropriate selection for a downtown environment.”
Additionally, some of the Japanese cherry trees are nearing the end of their lives, have outgrown their planters and are too close to the road.
“When we replace these trees, we’re proposing to relocate the plant or make the planter larger,” Oien said, adding that selecting the right tree for the right location is vital. “One tree takes about a day, and that includes falling the tree, removing the tree, hydroexcavating the roots, removing the stump and then planting.”
In the city’s five- to 10-year replacement plan, staff aim to proactively minimize damage to infrastructure, select two different species of trees for downtown, and identify funding sources. Staff plan to add root barriers, which forces roots to grow down and not out into infrastructure, and replace trees as they are removed. The total cost for the replacement of 124 trees would be $186,000, if the city council chooses to pursue the plan to that extent.
Centralia resident and business owner Rebecca Staebler told the city council during the public comment section that she was “surprised and saddened to see city crews trimming trees along Tower Avenue two weeks ago because of the timing and staff “leaving the street and sidewalks littered with debris.”
“I literally cried and was sick to my stomach when I walked north on Tower and saw what had happened. There is a time and a way to trim a tree, and this is not it,” she said. “Late spring is the absolute worst time to trim any tree. In some cases, way too much of the tree was removed at the same time, thus challenging the health of the tree as well as the aesthetics of the street.”
According to Oien, the city is looking to hire a certified arborist that specializes in downtown forestry to help staff develop a list of better tree species to plant. The Centralia Downtown Association welcomed Justin Zenkner, a forest geneticist from Weyerhaeuser, to its board, and he has volunteered his time to develop and conduct a tree inventory.
Deputy City Manager Amy Buckler said staff is also working to update its citywide tree policy, as per the council’s request last fall. The policy will provide guidance to the city on how and why it removes trees, establishing a replacement program, planting the right tree in the right place, preventing future problems, and the subsequent budget for tree removal and replacement.
The city is hosting a public open house on Thursday, Aug. 7, at Fort Borst Park Arboretum to discuss the new tree policy and the downtown tree replacement program. The time will be announced at a later date.
