Bluffs hearing focuses on trees

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Tree removal along the Missouri River to make way for the new River's Edge Park will be the focus of a public hearing Monday before the Council Bluffs City Council.

City officials plan to create a riverfront park over 85 acres of land for recreation, outdoor entertainment and other uses. About 200 trees, most of them cottonwoods, must be removed to create the park's planned Great Lawn as well as a road for the park.

The tree removal has to be done quickly, Mayor Tom Hanafan said. Bats nest in these trees beginning in the spring, and federal rules prohibit removal of the trees once that nesting begins, Hanafan said.

“We have a small window to work with,” he said. “Environmentally, you have to be careful and follow the rules, and we are.”

The Great Lawn will be a six-acre open space just south of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. Planners envision a setting where the public can relax, walk their pets or enjoy outdoor concerts and movies.

A tree-replacement program is part of the removal, Hanafan said.

The council will be asked to approve the plan and set the bid-letting date for Feb. 19.

Once a tree removal company is chosen, it's hoped the work can start ASAP, Hanafan said.

Eventually the park will extend from north of the Council Bluffs landing of the pedestrian bridge — an area currently tree-covered and undeveloped — to Harrah's Casino & Hotel on the south.

A sandy, beachlike area will be created between the river and the Great Lawn, while a two-lane road will meander for a mile through the area with hiking and biking trails nearby. A fountain also is planned in the area.

The Iowa West Foundation has committed $5.45 million over the next two years for construction of the Great Lawn and surrounding amenities, the first and largest of three phases of construction. The balance of the funding for Phase I will come from the city's capital improvement program.

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