GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Neighbors living in Hall County are working together to try and stop the destruction of a historic street.
The State of Georgia is planning to widen Green Street in Gainesville, which would mean removing more than two dozen large trees.
Neighbors told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims they’re worried the project will ruin the street’s character.
The community is now working to get the state to modify the widening plans.
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The residents in Gainesville agree that Green Street needs improvement, but they say they want the Georgia Department of Transportation to look at ways to save the trees and have a smaller footprint.
Some have tied ribbons around the trees that are currently slated to come down.
Other neighbors have planted signs in the ground reading “Save Green Street.”
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Those living near the trees, and on Green Street, told Channel 2 Action News that it’s important to them because they want to save a piece of Gainesville’s identity.
GDOT wants to widen Green Street because it’s congested.
The leafy street is lined by tall trees and grand old houses built in the 1800s.
But the community there doesn’t want things to change so much.
Frank Norton, Jr., a resident, said taking the trees away would “forever change this community’s largest historic asset, which is Green Street.”
Norton owns a real estate and insurance business. He organized a group called “Save Green Street” in an effort to have GDOT modify their $25 million project to widen the road’s four lanes and put in a raised median for handling stormwater.
GODT’s plan also includes adding a roundabout.
But Norton says the median and sidewalks don’t have to be quite so wide, thus protecting the trees and yards on Green Street.
“It’s Gainesville’s picture postcard,” Norton said.
If it moves forward without modification, Norton told Channel 2 Action News that it would extend into his front yard.
A local business owner named Teryl Worster is also pushing back on the current plan.
Worster owns the Spa on Green Street, which is inside of a house built in 1910 there. If the widening project goes full steam ahead, it would take a chunk out of the yard.
Worster said she loves how lush Green Street is and wants to keep it that way.
“Anybody that walks down this street, anybody that drives down this street knows that this road is historic,” Worster said.
She’s among the 4,300 people who have already signed a petition urging GDOT to protect the street’s character.
“They can find a creative way, even moving the sidewalks around the trees, to maintain the trees,” Worster said.
Gainesville Mayor Zack Thompson has written a letter to GDOT asking for some changes to the plan.
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