MOUNT VERNON — Citizens across Mount Vernon pride themselves on maintaining the beauty and historical image of the city. With trees, a special interest is taken in their well-being and the significance they hold, to not just the property owners, but to the community as well.

After reading in the News about plans for trees to be removed on McKenzie Street for the new curb project, property owners Timothy and Marianne Bunch said they became concerned. Their apprehension increased, they said, when Timothy noticed workers of a tree removal company pointing at and studying the tree on the corner of their property at 201 E.Vine St. and McKenzie Street.

“None of us were even notified that this tree was going to be taken down,” said Bunch. “There was no notification; it just felt sneaky and underhanded to see a solid healthy 100-year-old tree in a historical neighborhood taken down. It just doesn’t seem right.”

At the Oct. 26 City Council meeting, Marianne Bunch spoke about their concern. She said council did discuss whether the tree cutting was necessary in the improvement project.

“I did feel like there was some hope that it would be postponed at least,” she said. “And they did say they would explore other options.”

But she said that the next day, after a talk with Mayor Richard Mavis, it was obvious the project would continue. On Thursday morning, the 100-year-old tree was cut partially down, with cutters taking off all of the branches and leaving only the trunk to be taken down later.

On Sunday, members of the neighborhood gathered at the site of the dilapidated tree to express their concern over its cutting.

“If anyone would have asked us to come up with alternatives, we would have talked about options and would have come up with something to save the tree,” said neighbor Diana Williams.

“I don’t see how they couldn’t have done something different, somehow, with all the technology in engineering in the world today, put a sidewalk around the tree especially since they are saving the pole,” said neighbor Gary Curts.

The Bunches have lived in the house for over 15 years and have never had any problems with the tree from the power or telephone company with the distribution pole adjacent to the tree.

“It felt like I was a trustee of the tree; we took care of it, pruned it, and we should have had a say in what happened to the tree,” said Marianne Bunch.

She said that just like the other trees on their property, many times they personally paid for an arborist to prune and take down trees anytime work was needed.

“We’ve had some trees that were not doing well and were taken down at our own expense because we knew that it was our civic responsibility,” said Bunch, adding that each time they cut a tree, a specialist was used to ensure the integrity of the tree would remain intact.

“If you look, this was such a healthy tree,” said Gary Curts, pointing at the chopped wood pieces that littered the yard.

“It just broke my heart,” said Holly Curts, who witnessed the tree cutting. “Part of being a historic district is not just the house; it’s the scenery, it’s the beautiful brick streets, it’s everything.”

Neighbors as well as the Bunches plan to address City Council with their concerns at the next meeting.

“This neighborhood has always come together, especially when it counts. Maybe we can prevent this from happening to someone else,” said Bunch. “I want [City Council] to see that there are other people in the neighborhood who are equally upset. No one knew that this was going to happen, no one had an opportunity to voice any concern prior to it being done. Obviously, we can’t revert it now, but hopefully we can get a little bit more transparency coming from the City Council, the mayor’s office and the city engineer’s office.”