Last Wednesday, during the monthly Eatonton-Putnam Tourism, Arts and Heritage (EPTAH) meeting at the downtown Chamber of Commerce office, landscape designers Ben Proulx and Casey Marbutt of Sandy Creek LandCraft encouraged city leaders to think bigger — greener — about shaping downtown Eatonton’s future.
The two University of Georgia–trained planners suggested urban trees aren’t just decoration but part of a vital infrastructure for healthy, inviting communities.
“My goal at the end of this presentation, is to make you a little bit more of a tree nerd,” Proulx admitted with a smile in his opening remarks.
Marbutt, who grew up in the Putnam and Morgan County area, said he was thrilled to be working with communities he knows well.
“We’ve stepped out on our own and we’re excited to be working within communities that we know and love,” he said. “We want to help municipalities like Eatonton in any way we can.”
Proulx serves as vice chair of Madison’s Green Space Conservation Commission and chair of its Tree Planting Committee. He outlined how trees can improve city spaces, emphasizing that, beyond appearance, they reduce the heat island effect, absorb stormwater, improve air quality, reduce pedestrian stress, and even boost local economies.
“If a place is inviting, people want to linger, stay a little bit longer, or actually want to go there,” Proulx said. “Studies show trees can increase retail spending by nine to 12 percent.”
Still, both speakers acknowledged that practical challenges often accompany planting and maintaining trees in downtown areas, including state transportation regulations, maintenance costs, root damage to sidewalks, and even sap dripping onto parked cars.
“GDOT is notoriously difficult to work with,” Proulx admitted. “But there are ways to get what needs to be done in there. You just have to work within their constraints.”
Marbutt added that many towns have successfully partnered with the Georgia Department of Transportation to incorporate greenery along state-controlled roads.
“Oftentimes, the engineer associated with a project takes a very cut-and-dried approach because it just makes their life easier. But if we push back a little and look at the bigger picture, we can find solutions,” he insisted.
The presentation also sparked ideas from EPTAH members about how Eatonton might move forward. Business owners and city officials acknowledged past struggles, from merchants who once removed trees that blocked their storefronts to state restrictions that limited sidewalk plantings. City Councilmember Janie Reid noted that tree talk often resurfaces over the years but rarely advances to the planning stage.
Matt Poyner, executive director of the Putnam Development Authority, described an on-again-off-again idea that’s circulated for years, a downtown parking structure built beneath the downtown courthouse grounds that potentially could free up surface parking for new green spaces.
“If we bring in over a hundred parking spaces underground,” Tytan Studios’ Jim Stone added, “we might be able to take 10 or more out from around downtown and build tree islands.”
“That’s the kind of trade-off that makes downtown more inviting,” Proulx replied. “It always comes down to a numbers game, but if it makes people want to come downtown, it’s worth stealing a little real estate from cars.”
As an example, Proulx described nearby Madison’s long-term approach to tree management. It has been a Tree City USA participant for 35 years, he said, replacing aging trees, planting new ones each year, and even helping residents add trees to their private yards through an endowment fund.
He said that Madison is now planning its first “Tree Week,” complete with tours, speakers, and film screenings, with all aimed at deepening community appreciation for urban forestry.
Proulx suggested that Eatonton could follow a similar path, beginning with small, visible actions such as planting trees in unused curb spaces, at intersections, or along pedestrian routes.
“A good canopy planting isn’t about planting everywhere,” he stressed. “It’s about planting smart.”
As the meeting closed, several attendees thanked the pair for visiting and broadening perspectives about the potential for tree plantings in downtown Eatonton.
“I was one of the ones who raised my hand that said I don’t notice trees,” Georgia Writers Museum President Lou Benjamin admitted. “I probably won’t walk out the front door today without doing this now.”
Proulx laughed and said that was precisely his goal in visiting EPTAH.
“Maybe the next time you’re walking downtown, you’ll see a spot and think, ‘You could actually put a tree here.’ That’s when real change starts,” he said while displaying his final slide: “Trees make towns livable, lovable, and lasting.”