The Eureka Springs Hospital has been given the green light to proceed with cutting down 11 trees on the property that facility officials say are impeding the line of sight for helicopter pilots to land safely when transporting patients.

At its regular monthly meeting on Nov. 12, the city board of zoning adjustment voted 5-1 to approve the tree removal request. The project had already begun, without BOZA’s approval, before being being stopped by Paul Sutherland, the city’s building inspector and code enforcement officer.

The trees potentially affecting pilots’ view of the beacon lights and windsocks near the helipad, and the potential consequences with the Federal Aviation Administration, needed to be addressed, commissioners said.

“This just makes me very nervous …,” commissioner Ann Tandy-Sallee said. “If these are legitimate concerns that have been brought to the hospital and they bring them to planning and we don’t … act on any of this tonight, and something happens, that’s not a good situation. I mean, I have to believe that what Paul was told is the situation with these lights and landing. And I mean, that’s a life source for people.”

Commissioner Ferguson Stewart agreed.

“Public safety is part of the requirement for being able to just cut trees,” Stewart said. “I think that’s one thing that we’ve got here is a situation where the city has put in a helipad and the requirements for the helipad are such that those trees need to be removed, then we should approve the tree cut.

“If there’s anything that’s bad for a helicopter, it’s trees and power lines, and so if they’ve got a visual problem, I think … any delay, because I think I heard [a helicopter] leaving before this meeting when I was downtown today. So I’d be concerned. That would be my issue.”

The only issue of contention was the fact that the hospital had already started the process of removing the trees, and the debris that was left behind. After hearing from Sutherland, some commissioners called for the current debris to be cleaned up before taking a vote on granting the request.

“They cut down probably about two to three [trees],” Sutherland said. “A couple of weeks ago I went out there because I got a call they were cutting down trees, and I stopped them.”

That led Mayor Butch Berry to reach out to the hospital commission, and the appropriate application to remove trees in the city was then submitted, Sutherland said.

“They started to cut down some trees and the people who were cutting down the trees didn’t know they needed a permit,” he said.

Commissioner Tom Buford felt the debris needed to be cleaned up before deciding whether to grant the request.

“I think we need to delay this application…,” Buford said. “They clean up what they’ve already messed up, and flag the trees, and come back with a proper application.”

Sutherland responded: “Part of the reason why [the debris] is still there is because the tree cutting people contractor who did that was a little bit upset because we stopped them, and they just told them to hold off until we got this permitting done. But, they plan to come back and clean up all that.”

Buford also questioned the timing of the application.

“I don’t think these are trees that appeared overnight,” Buford said. “I mean, they’ve been going a long time and all of a sudden it’s a problem?”

Stewart responded: “… Trees grow. They get higher and they get higher…” Susan Harman, commission chair, asked Sutherland if the city was in jeopardy of being fined by the FAA because of the trees.

“Or are we in jeopardy of not having flights coming into the hospital because of the trees, or have the trees already been cut?,” she said. “Are there major ones [still there] that are an issue?”

Trees that are an issue remain, Sutherland responded.

“The reason why I am told they they want the trees cut is because of the fact they wanted them cut down before the FAA did fine them,” he said. “They also said the pilots do not like flying in there with all those trees up.”

Stewart made a motion to approve the request, which included wording to make sure all debris is removed on the property. Buford cast the only dissenting vote.