The cherry blossom trees lining the Williamsburg Middle School campus in full bloom. Photo courtesy of Atsushi Yuzawa
Arlington — Over 50 years ago, a man by the name of Herbert Sholar laid the seeds of what would become iconic to the Crescent Hills community.
Pamela Swain remembers sledding through the bright pink and rose-colored petals of the cherry blossom trees that Scholar planted when she was just a young girl.
Through the years, even through Swain has moved away, the trees have continued to stand and blossom year to year along the grounds of the Williamsburg Middle School.
“I think it’s a wonderful example of a neighborhood on its own, beautifying the whole area,” said Swain, who still visits the trees.
But over the next week, the Crescent Hills community will lose what is remaining of about over a dozen cherry blossom trees that Sholar planted, to a new elementary school that will be built alongside Williamsburg — a decision that many residents think is wrong.
“I hope that they can save as many as possible,” said Swain.
The new 98,000-square-foot elementary school is part of Arlington Public Schools More Seats for More Students initiative that aims to ease current and future overcrowding issues that the county is experiencing. The new school, that does not yet have an official name, will have the capacity to hold more than 600 elementary students and will reduce energy consumption use to about a third of what a typical elementary school uses with the help of geothermal wells and solar panels.
“It’s ironic that this is supposed to be one of the greenest schools, but they have to chop down these trees,” said Atsushi Yuzawa, a long-time Crescent Hills resident who lives across the street from the trees.
Although community conversations were held in the planning process prior to building the new school, Lynn Pollock, a chairperson of the Rock Spring Civic Association who advocated for Crescent Hills residents during the building process, says that when it was decided that the school would be built on the southern part of the Williamsburg property, the decision was made to take down the trees.
“I’m sad, they were gorgeous,” said Pollock. “It was like having our own tidal basin right here.”
Frank Bellavia, a public relations specialist at Arlington Public Schools says that even through the cherry blossom trees are being removed, the school system will replace them with more than double the number of trees that are there now once construction is completed.
Living in front of where the trees stand, Yuzawa has witnessed the tree removal process since the first day.
“Fifty years of history will be gone at the drop of a hat,” said Yuzawa. “But new history will start again.”
The new elementary school is expected to open in September 2015.