Going green: Community weighs in on Allentown’s plan to plant trees in the city | Allentown Area

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Trees were the topic of discussion at City Hall in Allentown on Monday night.

The city is developing a plan to plant and maintain more trees, and officials are asking for the public’s help in putting it all together.

Allentown could look a little bit greener in a few years.

In 2024, the city received nearly $1 million in federal grant money to put together an urban forestry master plan, and on Monday night, residents weighed in on what they want to see in their neighborhoods.

“Trees are just so important in so many different ways, as a bird lover that’s one of the many ways that they can be so important,” said Barbara Malt, president of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society.

The plan aims to plant 600 street trees throughout the city’s historically underinvested communities.

Those trees are the property owner’s responsibility to maintain and pay for if they grow in the right of way.

“A couple of the really significant concerns people have with planting a tree in, especially if they’re the owner of the property, they’re gonna be responsible for this tree, they’re gonna be responsible for maintaining it, they’re gonna get fined by the city if it’s not properly maintained, the tree is going to grow and lift up the sidewalk,” says Tinku Khanwalker, of Allentown.

Khanwalker works with the community group Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley.

She provides a class to students who live in neighborhoods that the city is focusing on.

Khanwalker says while they would like to see more trees, they know they come at a cost.

“One of the ideas that came up was can we make them into remembrance trees for people who have gotten shot or otherwise suffered some type of a loss, and if each tree is a remembrance tree, then maybe the community will come around and want it to move forward,” says Khanwalker.

The forestry master plan still has some time to be developed. It likely won’t be finalized until the end of the year. Then it will take shape through 2028.

In the meantime, city officials will host more meetings and continue to ask the public for input.

“I do hope that there will be some outreach to show people how trees really benefit them in so many different ways from cooling their homes, to providing the shade to supporting the nature that they love to filtering the air and the water,” says Malt.