SANDPOINT — Removing trees is not exactly a conventional way to celebrate Arbor Day, but replacing them with a more appropriate species expresses the spirit of the day quite nicely. It is also smart stewardship, according to Jared Yost, Sandpoint city forester.

Conifers lining N. Boyer Avenue near the Litehouse warehouse facility are posing problems both for city sidewalks and for Avista's power lines. Yost asked the City Council to approve removal of them at last week's meeting.

"The existing conifer roots have a tendency to cause sidewalk problems as they mature," he said. "Avista is requesting removal of the trees that are growing into power lines."

While the power company has offered to cut down the trees in question and provide three replacement trees at no cost to the city, council members were skeptical. 

"We're losing 40 and we're getting three?" asked Mayor Shelby Rognstad.

Yost said that the Neighbor Woods Program would provide funding to purchase additional trees. Neighbor Woods, a part of the Sandpoint Tree Committee, is a partnership program that provides trees for reforesting public parkways between the street and private property lines. Adjacent residents agree to care for the trees over three years until they are firmly established.

An Avista representative said that his crew could remove the trees within the next two or three weeks. Yost said they would like to plant the new foliage in the fall. Meanwhile, the city would have to fund stump grinding and removal for the two-block-long, double row of pines that separates the Lighthouse grounds from Boyer Avenue.

"Our code requires stumps to come out," said Kim Woodruff,  Sandpoint parks and recreation director.

Yost said the cost of this process could run between $50 and $75 per tree.

Jennifer Stapleton, Sandpoint city administrator, suggested approaching Litehouse officials to see whether they might be amenable to sharing the cost. She said she would do so before the next council meeting. Members agreed to put aside a decision on the tree removal until then.