The discussion over Central Methodist University’s plan to cut down around a dozen trees along North Church Street in order to widen sidewalks and improve parking has reached a fever pitch. University officials view a motion by one councilwoman at last week’s Fayette Board of Aldermen meeting as a retaliatory action.

Citizens in Fayette have voiced opposition to Central’s plan to cut down 12 trees between the sidewalk and Church Street on the campus’s western border.

The university is applying for a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to help fund this portion of the project. Central asked the city for a letter of support it could include with the grant application during a council meeting on May 23. Ultimately, the council took no action, thereby denying support for the project.

Central’s ultimate plan is to widen the roadway so that cars will have room to parallel park in a designated area rather than the road’s shoulder. The first step in this project is to widen and improve damaged sidewalks. The university would also like to add at least one crosswalk as well.

At the most recent city council meeting on June 13, Fayette citizens Ed Lammers and Ronda Gerlt asked the city not to support the project. Both have shared their thoughts in recent letters published by the Advertiser.

The council attempted to take the matter one step further. During the final portion of the meeting reserved for board member comments, Northwest Ward Alderwoman Michelle Ishmael explained that she has been inundated by comments about the trees and even received comments on a recent trip to the nearby town of Pilot Grove. “My phone, my email, and my work have just blown up,” she said. “There is a lot of chatter about it.”

East Ward Alderwoman Stephanie Ford said the city needs to consider making Church Street no parking except on Sundays. “Maybe make an exception for that time during church.”

Mrs. Ishmael attempted to make a motion to disallow parking except for church use. But the measure was halted by Mayor Jeremy Dawson so that a discussion could occur during the next council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 27. The matter is expected to be listed on the agenda for the June 27 meeting.

In an interview Friday afternoon between senior university officials and this newspaper, President Roger Drake took exception to making the section of roadway no parking for university use. 

“One of these suggestions that I want to dispel right away is the notion that perhaps we shouldn’t be parking there at all,” said Dr. Drake. “Those decisions were made 170 years ago when the campus was designed.

“I have faculty, I have staff, I have people that may not be in good health, for whom there is not another good, workable place for them to park,” he said.

Drake said that any ban on parking on North Church Street would damage the relationship between the college and the city and would be seen as discriminatory against the university.

“We have enjoyed an incredible, cooperative relationship with the city,” he said.

Not only is Central constructing a new $9.3 million building on the west side of the downtown square that will house students and retail space, but the university has also made numerous contributions to and around Fayette for decades, including paving streets and sidewalks, and rehabilitating an empty building abandoned by Dollar General. In 2020, Central fulfilled its pledge to contribute $30,000 toward the purchase of a new ladder truck for the Fayette Fire Department, and local teams use Eagle athletic facilities.

Dr. Drake said the university is an active player in what happens in Fayette and that he would view any action the city council took to prohibit parking along North Church Street, except for those using Linn Memorial and First Christian churches, as entirely punitive.

“That would hurt our people,” he said. “This just cannot be. If folks think that would just be an uneventful change, they would be wrong about that.”

He explained that the vast majority of the people who park there are faculty and staff.

Central has pared down its initial plan to cut down 18 trees to include just 12. Six of those trees are either dead or dying, and five pose safety issues due to overhead power lines or roots damaging sidewalks. Only one healthy tree that causes no hazards will be cut down to make way for the project.

Of those 12 trees, most are near other mature trees so that the aesthetic characteristic of the streetscape will not be harmed, the university asserts.

Central also plans to strategically plant back 12 trees around campus. 

“All of that cost to widen a state road will all fall on Central Methodist University. People should see that as a sacrificial investment by the university to make Fayette more beautiful and better,” Dr. Drake said.

Currently, cars parked along Church Street in front of campus drive over the curb, creating significant ruts. The university plans to widen the roadway to allow for proper parallel parking near the sidewalks where opened car doors do not extend into the northbound driving lane, as they do currently.

“Everybody loves a tree, but that is not an attractive view when you drive up and see cars parked up on there. It will be so much more beautiful when we are finished than it is now,” Drake said.

“There is no way to do it without losing a few trees that might have survived. But it will not substantially change the beauty. We will replace those trees some other place that will enhance even more the wooded beauty of the campus. Why would we spend multiple millions of dollars doing it if it didn’t make our campus more beautiful and safer?”

Two trees in front of the First Christian Church will not be cut down at the church’s decision. The sidewalk there is relatively even. However, traveling south between the street and the adjacent parking lot, the sidewalk is heavily damaged and cannot be easily traversed by those in wheelchairs or pushing strollers.

“The sidewalks are a safety issue,” said Julee Sherman, Vice President for Finance and Administration at CMU. “For those of us who walk that sidewalk, we know it’s crumbling, it’s different levels, it’s different widths. The sidewalk is our first step of this project.”