Franklin Square Park closed due to concerns trees are diseased or dead

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — The city of Southport has closed Franklin Square Park due to concerns about dead and damaged trees.

According to the city, they’re particularly concerned about 4 trees, but there are nearly 2 dozen more that are being looked at to see if they need to come down.

An arborist hired by Downtown Southport Inc. gave a report about the trees during the Board of Aldermen’s December meeting.

The report found that a number of trees are diseased and may need to be removed or trimmed.

City manager Bonnie Therrien said the public’s involvement has been great but that residents and visitors need to stay away from the park for the foreseeable future.

“I think it’s positive,” Therrien said. “I just think it hard to get the word out to people, please don’t go into that park until we know for sure, ’cause again we don’t want anyone who’s gonna be hurt. And I know some people aren’t happy, I know some people are going in there anyway. But there are signage, it is shut off.”

Additional assessment of the trees happened on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jeanne Potter is a member of Friends of Franklin, a group concerned about the state of the park.

She said the group hopes the park will go back to what it used to be, before the vendor markets began being held there.

“We want it to be a people park again,” Potter said. “You know, where families and children, small groups of people, you know small birthdays, small wedding parties, but stop this 160 vendor tents and thousands of people tromping through the park.”

Once the assessment of the trees is done, the arborist will give another report to the Board of Alderman at their meeting in February.

It is not known how long the park will stay closed.