LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Monday, the last part of Lakeport’s Downtown Improvement Project was under way as a contractor began installing the city’s new street trees.
Neary Landscape Inc. of Santa Rosa began placing the 34 trees on both sides of Main Street between First and Fourth streets.
The Lakeport City Council approved the contract with Neary at its March 21 meeting, with the contract totaling $128,900, as Lake County News has reported.
The zelkova “village green” trees will grow at a rate of between 12 and 36 inches a year, reaching a maximum height of 60 feet, according to the Cal Poly Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute.
The institute said that the deciduous trees have a vase shape, with leaf colors ranging from green to bronze to red, and a shading capacity ranging from moderate to moderately dense.
City staff who were on site to supervise said that it’s expected Neary can install four to five of the trees per day.
On Monday afternoon, the contractor’s crew was working north from the intersection of First and S. Main streets, on the east side of the street.
Olivia Grupp, the city of Lakeport’s project manager, said a small excavator was being used to start digging out the holes where the trees are being placed, with much of the rest of the digging needed to be done by hand due to the presence of underground utilities.
The crew members placed the trees’ square-shaped root balls into the holes, put dirt in around them and then installed at the base of the trees the new ornate metal grates installed for the project.
Grupp said it’s expected to take a few weeks to complete the tree installation project.
City Engineer Paul Curren also stopped in to check on the progress, with Public Works staffers on hand if issues arose.
Public Works staffer Ron Ladd said that, as part of the tree installation, Neary is placing new irrigation for the trees, as well as a brand new state-of-the-art irrigation system for the flower baskets on the downtown’s ornate lamp posts.
The flower baskets are a seasonal fixture, funded by the Lakeport Main Street Association. Ladd said he wasn’t sure of the timeline for putting up the baskets with the new flowers for the spring and summer season.
City Manager Margaret Silveira told the Lakeport City Council last week that an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the Downtown Improvement Project’s completion is planned to take place just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend parade on the morning of Saturday, May 27.
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