Orono citizens said they feel uninformed of their local government’s recent decisions at a community development committee meeting.

“I just was sort of taken by surprise when the cottonwood that I had heard was going to be saved, all of a sudden, was on the chopping block,” said Lisa Colburn, Orono resident and author of “The Maine Garden Journal.”

Thirteen citizens spoke regarding the aesthetics, development and fiscal priorities of the town at the meeting on Monday, Sept. 23. The meeting was scheduled in response to the concerns that some of Orono’s citizens expressed in regards to the removal of a cottonwood tree in downtown Orono for Katahdin site redevelopment, the removal of vegetation from the town’s traffic islands, and the condition of Mill Street.

“The council is keenly aware that there are several issues in recent weeks that have come to our attention that a lot of people are upset about, don’t understand or are misinformed about,” said Orono Town Council Chair Geoff Gordon.

According to a project timeline of the redevelopment of the Katahdin site from Orono’s official website, as of the council’s April 2010 meeting, the cottonwood tree would remain in the space that it was occupying until Sept. 17. The tree became an issue when the parking structure that was originally planned for the development became too expensive for the project’s budget.

“Basically we took the cottonwood down for parking. That, I think is a sad state of affairs. […] I’m sort of disappointed that there’s not much I can do to save a tree that’s already cut down. The meeting was now, which is [several] days after the tree came down,” said Orono resident Claudia Lowd.

While Orono residents expressed concern about the removal of the cottonwood, the meeting’s discussions also addressed the removal of flowerbeds and other vegetation from the town’s traffic islands at the intersection of College Avenue and Park Street. During August, the Orono Public Works Department reconstructed the islands using concrete with funding through a Maine Department of Transportation Municipal Partnership Initiative Grant.

Council member Judy Sullivan informed the citizens that the reason the traffic islands were reconstructed was part of an effort to make a place for changeable art installations. The plan was to have installations placed on the islands in coordination with the University of Maine for homecoming weekend. Gordon explained that the project for the islands would not be completed until spring because of scheduling issues.

“We don’t know what it’s going to look like, but it’s an experiment. We’ll try it. If we like it, we keep it. If we don’t like it, we can dig it up and put the flowers back, or something else. We don’t know, but we’re doing something about it,” Gordon said of the plans for the intersection of College Avenue and Park Street.

At the end of the meeting, Gordon and council member Lianne Harris encouraged attendees to sign up to be part of the trails committee, the beautification committee or the tree board project. In addition, several of the committee members, as well as the town manager, Sophie Wilson, expressed that they appreciate the input and participation of Orono’s citizens in the decisions being made for the town.

Other agenda items for the meeting included a discussion of maintenance of a pedestrian footbridge by Birch Street School and informing the council of an Active Community Environments grant.

The meeting was attended by six of the seven members of the town council — Judy Sullivan, Tom Spitz, Geoff Gordon, Lianne Harris, Tom Perry and Mark Haggerty — as well as Wilson and Belle Ryder, assistant town manager. Nancy Ward, assistant clerk and assistant to the town manager, recorded meeting minutes.