QUEENS — Target has plans to replant a set of trees that were cut down in front of its soon-to-open Austin Street location last year. However, the city, which is also eyeing the area for a potential rain-absorbing bioswale, said it won't approve the plan until the retailer provides the necessary paperwork.
Target drew the ire of the community last month after it bricked over three sidewalk tree pits in front of its future home at 70-00 Austin St. between 70th Avenue and 69th Road — where three honey locust trees had stood until last fall when they were cut down.
After community outcry, the chain store agreed to move ahead with a replanting plan and removed some of the bricks from the tree pits last Thursday in preparation.
“Target is moving forward with the NYC Parks Department to obtain the permits and have trees outside the Forest Hills store replanted in October, during their next planting season,” Kristy Welker, a spokeswoman for the chain, told DNAinfo New York in an email last week.
But the city said this week that it may use the location for another purpose as the Department of Environmental Protection is "investigating the feasibility of building rain gardens in the area," Douglas Auer, a spokesman for the agency said in an email Monday.
The Parks Department also said that it won't approve Target's proposal until the chain provides a site plan, as well as paperwork from the Department of Buildings and the Department of Transportation.
Two trees were taken out by Parks’ forestry unit in September 2015, after they were inspected and were found to be in poor condition, according to the Parks Department, which has no information about what happened to the third tree.
The stumps were then left in the pits until Target removed them in June and bricked over the pits. The DOT slapped Target with a summons in June for failing to get a permit required to modify the sidewalk using red bricks, not concrete.
The Parks Department said on Monday that it has not yet received requests for permits from Target to replant the trees.
Michael Perlman, a local historian who was among those outraged about the tree pits being bricked over last month, said that one idea should not exclude the other.
"Tree pits and bioswales can exist alongside one another," he said. "Target, the Parks Department, and the Department of Environmental Protection should work collaboratively and plant new trees in restored pits and also introduce a bioswale with a tree and hardy plants and flowers, if the city determines that would be a suitable fit for the site."
The Forest Hills Target, which replaces the Barnes & Noble that closed in December, will hold its soft opening this Wednesday with a grand opening scheduled for Sunday.
