Warwick residents outraged after 43 trees cut down by mistake

By John Krinjak

Email: jkrinjak@abc6.com

Twitter: @johnkrinjakABC6

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — Maury Ryan was shocked to see the woods across from his Warwick home disappearing.

"Nobody told us. Nobody gave us any notice at all," said Ryan.

Last Thursday a contractor working on a sewer project, began chopping down tree after tree on city property belonging to John Brown Francis School.

"It’s night and day," said Ryan.

The sewer authority says the tree-cutting was a surprise to them, too.

"As soon as we found out about it we nixed that, they stopped working," said Warwick Sewer Authority Executive Director Janine Burke-Wells.

But not before 43 trees–most of them oaks–were already history.

Burke-Wells blames this mind-blowing mistake on bad communication.

"We’re going to find out how the miscommunications occurred," said Burke-Wells. "We are just extremely sorry, embarrassed that this happened."

But for Ryan, the damage is done to his once-charming neighborhood.

"Now all of a sudden without the trees, we hear all the airplanes that come by, we can see all the way to Warwick Avenue, and it’s become an eyesore," said Ryan.

The sewer authority has agreed to replant and landscape the area–with input from residents and the school department.

But right now, residents are afraid their home values will take a hit.

"We just moved into the neighborhood within three months ago." said Ryan. "We probably would not have bought the house had we known that this was going to happen."

Ryan remains skeptical.

He believes the city meant to clear the land, but changed their tune when neighbors were outraged.

The sewer authority says the contractor, CB Utility, won’t be getting paid for the tree removal.

We reached out to CB Utility, but they declined our request for an interview.

© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2018