CORINTH — Residents continued to argue that the city is not following its own tree preservation ordinance, chopping down hundreds of trees along Church Drive this week, as the council considered shoring up other rules meant to beautify the city.

About a dozen residents returned to the regular Corinth City Council meeting Thursday night, after about 50 residents tried to stop the widening of Church Drive earlier this month.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Traffic is stopped on Church Drive in Corinth while trees are taken down. The city is widening the street between Post Oak Drive and Interstate 35E.

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Several residents complained about the scope of the project during the citizens’ agenda.

Citing an October 2004 Capital Improvement Plan, written by the city’s engineering firm, Freese & Nichols, they questioned the traffic estimates used to determine how wide the road should be to accommodate future loads. They said an estimate of 400 cars per hour during peak travel times was grossly inflated.

Margaret Jackson said she’s lived on Church Drive nearly 20 years.

“Four hundred cars an hour is nonsense,” Jackson said.

Fellow Church Drive neighbor Brad Eubanks said he would present the city with a petition of 300 names and asked Corinth to stop destroying trees until preservation issues have been addressed.

“The city is not exempt from the tree protection plan,” Eubanks said.

Because a construction update was not on the agenda, the council could not respond to the residents’ concerns.

Interim City Manager Jim Berzina could not be reached Friday for comment on the residents’ concerns.

Also Thursday, the City Council postponed its vote on updates to the weeds and grass ordinance after some residents and council members raised concerns about the proposals.

The proposal would require property owners to mow 200 feet in from roads, fence lines, structures and other property improvements.

The current weeds and grass ordinance requires a 50-foot barrier.

City staff retreated from an earlier recommendation to require all undeveloped parcels of 20 acres or less be mowed in their entirety to improve the city’s “marketability.”

Resident Sherry Schneider asked the council to make sure the ordinance allows for wildflowers.

Foy Taylor, who owns a farm inside the city limits, said that when it comes to large-scale weed control, he knows how to manage it and the city needs to stay out of that.

“The city shouldn’t tell me when to cut the bitterweed,” Taylor said.

Council member Bruce Hanson said he also was concerned that the ordinance, as written, has the potential to violate civil rights.

The proposed language ballooned from six pages to 15 between the time the council packet was distributed and Thursday’s meeting, he said.

“I’m uncomfortable putting out something so vague,” Hanson said.

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Harrison agreed, saying he never likes to “draft on the fly.”

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .