Developer preserving specimen trees at re-zoned hospital site.

With a lot of tender loving care--and some luck--31 specimen trees on the former St. Agnes Hospital property in White Plains may be enjoyed by future generations, thanks to an extensive tree preservation program undertaken by North Street Community LLC, the site's owner/developer.

The trees--several of which are more than a half a century old--were recently removed from their locations and taken to a temporary nursery created on the hospital campus grounds. There, they will be maintained and cared for daily.

If all goes well, the trees will be re-planted sometime in 2009. The plan is that they will become part of the new extensive new landscaping for the senior living community that has been proposed for the 23-acre site.

Rather than discarding the healthy and beautiful trees--as is typically the case when developers clear sites to make way for new construction--North Street Community opted to try and save them. But, the trees needed to be removed in the spring while soil conditions were still moist. North Street Community obtained the approval of the City of White Plains to undertake the tree relocation initiative at the earliest before the onset of warmer days and drier soil conditions. Each tree was carefully removed, prepared and taken to the nursery during an operation that cost about $49,000.

Benny A. Caiola, a partner of North Street Community, said: "We are doing everything possible to help assure that these very attractive and magnificent trees will survive the shock of having been removed so that they will continue to grace the property with their beauty when we replant them." He added: "Some of the trees could have remained in their original locations while we constructed around them. But that wasn't a good idea because the chances of them surviving soil compaction during construction were not good and there was the potential of damaging their roots. So, we chose to take these trees out of harm's way as well."

Under the supervision of Thomas Balsley Associates, the site's landscape architects, the trees were excavated by a crew from Trees on the Move, a division of LaMay's Tree Service. Excavation entailed having trenches dug around the trees and pruning the roots. Root balls were then created and wrapped in burlap. After being carefully moved to the nursery, the trees are being fed and kept moist via an irrigation system that was installed and will be monitored daily.

The diverse collection of trees being nursed includes a 32-inch caliper Japanese maple (caliper is an instrument used to measure the diameter of a tree), one cedar, one American holly, one Kwanzan cherry, ten 10-inch caliper spruce trees, 5 white pines, one crypotmeria, 3 other Japanese maples and others.

White Plains Common Council rezone the former St. Agnes Hospital property on North Street as a Planned Senior Residential Development District. The plan calls for building 335 condominium units, 92 assisted living units and about 20 Alzheimer's units.