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It's clear when trees come down in Bellaire, sounds and chatter ring out all over town.

Many in the area have been in a frenzy after hearing the Antrim County Airport wanted to remove 112 trees from a neighborhood in Bellaire to maintain a safe buffer zone for all the flight approaches.

Last Monday night, the Village Council agreed to allow the airport to remove and correctively prune the trees, as long as they look at the individual status of each tree and reimburse the council $5,000 for new trees.

Federal mandates require an unobstructed path for all the airport's approaches. The trees in the neighborhood from Elm Street to Birch Street and from Cedar to Cayuga were trimmed down once in the 1960s and again in the '80s, but now they've grown too tall again.

Airport Manager John Strehl has obtained federal money to remove the trees. The private lots (18 landowners affected) have easements that allow the airport to keep the trees out of the way, but those 46 trees on village property have no such agreements.

Strehl came to a Village Council meeting in January to request the village's cooperation in maintaining the approaches, and found an unenthusiastic crowd.

"You're talking about all the trees in an entire neighborhood,"Trustee Patricia Drollinger told him.

The Village Council decided to hire Forester Mike Meriwether to do a tree study assessing the conditions and value of the village trees before agreeing to anything.

Meriwether estimated the recovery value of the trees is $4,862 and that 14 of the 46 should be removed.

He suggested other trees be trimmed in a way to keep them out of the way.

"John (Strehl) and I talked about correctively pruning them so they stay out of the air space permanently,"Meriwether said.

One concern of the council and members of the community was that all the trees in the neighborhood would be completely removed, because the funding allows that. But Strehl said that isn't what the airport is looking to do.

"We would rather not cut the trees right down because it's more expensive,"Strehl said.

He added that the airport wants to use Meriwether as the tree consultant, acknowledging that he himself is not a tree expert.

In regards to any recovery value, the village of Bellaire has an ordinance that says any tree removed needs to be replaced somewhere else within the village limits. Strehl said the Federal Aviation Administration (the source of funding) is willing to pay a $5,000 replacement cost for the trees.

Besides the recovery fee, the advantage repeatedly emphasized by Strehl was that those mature trees that Meriwether suggested removing could be taken out using these federal funds.

"Using this type of money to take care of problems occurring today and problems that could occur in a few years, I think that's a prudent thing,"Strehl said.

He also wanted the council to know that this money can only be used now, so if some trees start deteriorating in a few years, this funding will not still be available.

Meriwether agreed it could be a good situation for the village. In his report he wrote, "It should be understood that in some cases, the village would be paying for the removal of these trees at some point in the relatively near future.Ó

Members of the Village Council said they would like to see local people doing this work, but Strehl said he legally has to open up the bid across the country and take the lowest one.

Meriwether said local tree companies need to be ready to make the bid and that likely those costs will be lower because those companies are closer.

"Make sure this isn't a surprise to tree companies,"he said. "They have to know about it and be prepared for it.Ó

Strehl said bids will be going out very soon, so that the trees can be pruned and removed in early May before the leaves come out.

"We all need to work together,"Strehl said. "We're trying to work with the local people, but we also have to work under guidelines. The airport is open under state and federal money.Ó

Hadley Robinson can be reached at hrobinson@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.