In recent weeks, residents of Searingtown have complained about trees on their residential trees being cut down and uprooted. The situation has subsided since then as Town of North Hempstead officials have replaced the trees with newer, sturdier ones.

The streets in Searingtown where sidewalk and road maintenance is occurring and where trees have been taken down and replaced include Solar Lane, Serpentine Lane, Lydia Court, Hollow Court, and Nassau Drive.

TONH officials admitted that local residents at first, "were a bit upset" about the tree-cuttings that accompanied the needed renovation projects. The town has jurisdiction over Searingtown. Also according to town officials, there hadn't been a major repaving of the roads in Searingtown for the past 20 years. The situation concerning the sidewalks was about the same. Local residents had lobbied for a renovation project and town officials, after studying the condition of the roads and sidewalks, agreed to do a more thorough job in maintaining and upgrading the areas in question.

The trees themselves were at least 20 years old or more. The project mandated that the old trees be uprooted, a process that happened also because the trees were getting old. However, the town will plant new trees on the streets in question, ones that won't ever have to be pulled up during the rest of their existence. This is so because the roots of the new trees will neither "pull up" on the sidewalks nor on village roads.

As with other jurisdictions in the North Shore, the TONH has its own tree ordinance, one that mandates replacement of all tree removal, whether they are done by residents or businesses. This, however, wasn't always the case. Before such tree ordinances were in effect, large corporations that did construction work in local villages, such as laying down power or sewage lines, often pulled up trees without replacing them. The Village of Roslyn, in recent times, has had some experience with this situation.

The TONH ordinance, among other things, mandates that any new trees contain, in size, at least half the circumference of the old tree. Such trees will eventually grow to equal or exceed the size of the one that was uprooted.

Recently, town officials visited Searingtown to inspect both the roadwork and the new trees. They spoke to local residents who were satisfied that the replacement trees will remain planted in their present location forever.