Nearly a month after crews began cutting down century-old ash trees along Canyon Road to make way for a controversial waterline project, neighbors’ protest signs still peppered the street, staked in front yards and beside the trunks of felled trees.
On Friday, Logan mayor-elect Mark Anderson and his wife removed many of those signs, pulling some directly from neighbors’ yards, according to residents who witnessed the removal.
Erika Hansen, who lives along Canyon Road, said she watched the mayor-elect’s wife, dressed in black, carry signs opposing the tree removal from neighbors’ yards and load them into the Andersons’ truck.
“The signs were placed on private property, and while many trees have been removed, the project is just getting underway,” Hansen said, “and undoubtedly more damage will be done.”
The signs, she said, were one of the few ways residents felt they could continue to voice their support for the trees as construction on the project moves forward.
“Keeping the signs up is just part of our way to communicate our love for those trees,” Hansen said, “even though they are gone.”
Anderson issued a lengthy apology on his campaign’s Facebook page Sunday, adding that he woke up early Saturday morning to return the signs.
“I feel terrible that I have offended my neighbors,” Anderson wrote. “I understand now that those signs represent my neighbors’ voice — I will never intentionally silence that.”
Anderson wrote that he abstained from nearly all council votes on the project because his property was affected.
He also described the day the ash tree in front of his parents’ home was removed as emotional. Though he had publicly supported removing the ash trees while serving on the city council, Anderson wrote that seeing his “precious” ash tree come down “was a tough day.”
The signs, created by a group of Logan “Loraxes” to urge the City Council to reconsider a pipeline project that would remove 17 trees, had been displayed for more than a year, Anderson wrote. On Friday, he said, he made the “mistake” of taking them down.
“There’s no excuse for our behavior,” Anderson wrote. “I usually don’t make decisions based solely on emotion — they are often not good choices. This time I did. … Taking the signs down was not our decision to make. We got caught.”
Hansen said removing the trees was a “heartbreaker,” but she and her neighbors understand “there is no going back.” She hopes, however, that future projects will involve more open communication with the community.
“Many constituents have lost faith in our local government, so I invite Logan city to move forward alongside us, to listen and to make compromises,” Hansen said. “We want big, beautiful trees and appropriate landscaping to welcome back the wildlife that has been displaced.”
Anderson resigned from his council seat on Nov. 17, the same day crews began cutting down the trees. He will be sworn in as mayor in January, for a four-year term.