Controversy over the removal of an iconic tree in Lyon Park is prompting an in-person conversation between neighborhood civic leaders and county leadership.
An aide for County Board Chair Takis Karantonis acknowledged some community members’ frustration in a Dec. 29 follow-up with Natalie Roy, who leads the Lyon Park Citizens Association. Karantonis “would like to offer a meeting to discuss this matter,” Sandra Calixto-Mendoza said in the letter to Roy.
The 40-year-old tree in question, located in a median in the 300 block of N. Fillmore Street, was removed between Dec. 11 and 12 after the county’s arborist found it was diseased and posed a threat to those walking or driving near it.
Prior to the removal, leaders of the Lyon Park Citizens Association had sent county officials a letter on Nov. 20 in an effort to preserve the tree. The association offered to fund a second opinion from an independent source on its health.
According to Natalie Roy, who leads the civic association, all efforts were rebuffed. Three weeks after the letter went out, the tree was summarily cut down and carted away.
“Lyon Park was treated shabbily in this situation,” Roy said in a recent email to community residents. She said she was “very disappointed with our elected officials and the county staff.”
Roy used the County Board’s public-comment period on Dec. 13 to seek answers. County Board Chair Takis Karantonis said a response would be forthcoming — but the answer took more than two weeks and did not give specifics on why the tree had to be removed.
In the Dec. 29 follow-up on Karantonis’ behalf, Calixto-Mendoza acknowledged the community’s “frustration about not receiving a timely response.”
Karantonis has served as Board chair in 2025 but is likely to be succeeded by one of his colleagues at the Jan. 5, 2026, County Board organizational meeting. Whether with Karantonis or the 2026 Board chair, “I will follow up and schedule a meeting,” Roy said to civic-association leaders.
At the Dec. 18 meeting of the Forestry and Natural Resources Commission, county staff defended the tree’s removal after further criticism from the Arlington Tree Action Group.
Its condition represented a threat, said Vincent Verweij, the county’s urban-forestry manager.
“This is a regularly traveled road,” Verweij told commission members. “Anybody at any time could be underneath this tree. Anybody who is driving, walking or otherwise near that tree could be at risk.”
Commission members who spoke on the topic at the Dec. 18 meeting didn’t question staff’s conclusions, but several said outreach could have been handled better.
In her response to Roy on behalf of Karantonis, Calixto-Mendoza acknowledged the tree was “beloved” by the Lyon Park community. She wrote that the Board chair had now heard from staff about the reasons they think its removal was necessary.
“He was briefed about its health, and the safety risks posed for people and property in the vicinity,” she wrote.
