rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/pause-the-smith-hazel-park-demolition?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-pause-the-smith-hazel-park-demolition' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Friends of Aiken Trees https://actionnetwork.org/groups/friends-of-aiken-trees https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/letters/photos/000/311/769/normal/IMG_1957.jpeg The City of Aiken recently announced a plan improve one of Aiken’s gems, the Smith Hazel Park, in a project that would involve destroying 68 trees and bulldozing and grading the landscape of this historic property. This plan was decided upon without a public hearing to lay out the facts of this plan and to receive informed public input for the record. Community concerns about this project’s potential impact on the trees have been ongoing for the past 13 months. Questions asked in emails, phone calls, and in City Council chambers have gone unanswered. The public was kept in the dark until the City finally divulged its plans for the trees on January 12, 2024. On the heels of this came the City’s announcement that there is no time for public hearings and comments, because there is a September deadline to meet. Friends of Aiken Trees is requesting that this project be paused and a public hearing be held to inform the public and allow for informed public comment. With the next- door Perry Memorial Park, there is great potential to realize the recreational capacity of Schofield neighborhood without taking such a destructive path at Smith Hazel. The City’s deadline may be difficult to meet with this pause but not impossible. Thw Smith Hazel Park deserves improvements conceived with thoughtful discussion to include input by the people who live here and who use this park. It is unfortunate that a public hearing did not take place earlier, but it is not too late. The project’s deadline can serve as impetus to waste no more time in getting the plan right. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/pause-the-smith-hazel-park-demolition