WARSAW — The City of Warsaw Public Works Department is eager to offer the 50/50 Sidewalk Replacement Program to resident homeowners again during this year's construction season.

Homeowners selected for this program will contribute 50% of the concrete cost. The City of Warsaw will provide the other 50% of the concrete costs, as well as all labor, to update the property with a new sidewalk.

The first 20 request forms received will be completed during the 2026 construction season. Request forms must be submitted no later than May 15, to allow for quoting, planning, and scheduling. Requests will be completed on a first-come, first-served basis after payment for the homeowner's portion has been received.

Information packets and the quote request form are available at the Public Works Office, 794 West Center St.  They are also available on the City's website at warsaw.in.gov/sidewalk.

For questions, call Public Works at (574) 372-9561.

The post Sidewalk replacement program deadline May 15 for Warsaw residents appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

WARSAW — As Gita Kamdar and a guest stood on the side of Colfax Street next to the giant Sycamore under Saturday's sunny skies, a series of motorists slowed and asked about the tree’s much ballyhooed future. 

After three weeks of public concern and discourse, was the tree — believed to be three centuries old — no longer endangered?

One woman even slowed her vehicle down and added that she’s been paying for the tree every day.

The answer is — almost assuredly — yes it is safe.

But despite multiple assurances from the mayor and the city planner and the city engineer, Kamdar said she's still waiting to learn that the Indiana Department of Transportation, which holds the final decision on a $3.2 million sidewalk project that stands in the way of the historic and beloved tree, had been approved

She still doesn't want to presume anything.

"Until it's 100 percent (that) we have a plan and it's done, than I'll feel 100 percent confident about it," Kamdar said.

Kamdar has every reason to feel confident after hearing of the overwhelming  support from the city and even the contractor.

One such assurance was echoed Friday during a lunch date arranged by local columnist Shari Benyousky that included Kamdar, city planner Justin Taylor and Don Zolman, whose father built the house at the corner of Colfax and Sheridan where Kamdar now lives.

Zolman reminisced about climbing the tree as a youth decades ago while Taylor sketched a drawing of how the sidewalk would be rerouted along the west side of Colfax.

Based on the map provided by Benyousky, it appears a sidewalk would be constructed along Kamdar's side yard that would that would turn to the west just south of the tree (instead of extending north to the intersection).

Kamdar credits the community for stepping up, and it now appears efforts to preserve the 300-year-old tree could be resolved in just three weeks.

"Worth every day," Kamdar said.

Support for the tree has continued to grow even after Kamdar held a rally one week ago that attracted dozens of people, including a retired judge who lives nearby and a retired teacher, Gene Butts, who used the tree as an educational tool for his students as far back as the 1960s.

A QR Code was added recently on the "Save the Sycamore" sign at the base of the tree. The code takes supporters to an online petition, which has grown to 907, including nearly 300 more since the rally was held, Kamdar said.

If all goes well, after all is said and done and the tree's roots have a chance to continue to sink themselves into the nearby earth for a few more centuries, Kamdar said she hopes to remove the white ribbon and that a plaque can be erected in honor of the tree's history.

And one more thing.

"My next step is ... how do you get pink paint off a tree?" she said.

[caption id="attachment_84896" align="aligncenter" width="1185"] A rally for the tree at the corner of Sheridan and Colfax streets in Warsaw was held on Oct. 28. To the right is Colfax Street. News Now Warsaw photo by Dan Spalding.[/caption]

The post Homeowner hopes to soon remove ribbon from giant Sycamore appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

WARSAW — The giant Sycamore tree, a source of oxygen for animals and a shelter for birds, squirrels and racoons for more than 300 years, received a friendly dose of adoration on Saturday.

A celebration of the tree's past and a desire to see it remain intact long into the future at the corner of Sheridan and Colfax streets in Warsaw came together Saturday one week after it came to light that it was targeted for removal to make way for one of many new sidewalks that are part of a $3.2 million effort by the city to improve safety near Lincoln Elementary.

in recent days, an effort led by homeowner Gita Kamdar to save the tree has given the city pause to reconsider its plan for the tree.

At the same time, supporters of the Sycamore which is now estimated to be more than 330 years old sought to certify its historical significance.

An arborist said earlier this week it's possibly the biggest Sycamore tree he's ever seen and some contend it could be the oldest existing tree in the city.

On Saturday, another dimension of its vastness was documented with the help of two men who measured its circumference  and determined it to be 225 inches.

"This tree is older than the country is and it will be here long after all of us are gone — if we let it," said Richard Rooker who wrapped a measuring tape around the base with the help of Chuck Sauders, a longtime educator.

"I walk by here all the time and we always comment on the magnificence and the majesty of this tree. It's a magnificent tree," Rooker said.

"This tree should not be cut down," Sauders said. "This tree needs to stay."

In a week of media attention stretching from Fort Wayne to South Bend, there's been virtually no opposition to those kinds of sentiments.

Saturday's gathering was intended to pay homage to the tree in hopes of helping strengthen its widening base of community support.

There were balloons placed alongside the "Save the Sycamore" sign and a white ribbon was tied around the base, overlapping the pink paint that showed up earlier this month, marking the tree for its proposed demise.

Children drew messages on the driveway with big blocks of chalk. A petition was available for signatures of support and stickers were distributed as part of the grassroots campaign.

About 40 or so people stopped by to lend their support and a steady honk of horns from passing motorists offered a similar messages for more than two hours.

One common theme aired by many is the connection between trees and local history and the importance o history.

Retired teacher Gene Butts, who used to bring students over from Lincoln to learn about the tree returned again on Saturday.

He said he feels confident it will be saved.

Understanding the local history — even the significance of a tree that dates back to when native Indians called the area home — is important, he and others said.

The tree's future caught fire in an article published by the Times-Union a week ago.

"That's what's great about being in a small town like Warsaw-Winona Lake," said Scott Gardonio, who attended Saturday's rally with his wife, Kandi. "That's all it takes is one good article and boom! The fire's lit and hopefully, it keeps going."

Kamdar addressed the crowd and said she was pleased with the turnout and the fact that many people shared stories about the tree.

"This is just the beginning, hopefully, of something that sets a precedent in Kosciusko County," Kamdar said. "Our first step is honoring history instead of removing it or paving over it.

City Planner Justin Taylor said earlier in the week that they were getting closer to a solution and waiting to hear from the Indiana Department of Transportation on whether it has state approval.

Taylor said they expect to have answer within days.

[gallery columns="1" size="full" ids="84896,84891,84901,84902,84904,84905,84909"]

The post Love for Warsaw’s historic Sycamore tree highlighted as future remains uncertain appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

WARSAW — At the intersection of Sheridan and Colfax streets in Warsaw is a Sycamore tree estimated to be at least 275 years old.

It’s slated to come down as part of the city of Warsaw’s Lincoln Neighborhood Sidewalk Project, but Gita Kamdar, 1702 E. Sheridan St., is making an effort to save the tree.

She knows the approximate age of the tree because Phend & Brown Inc., measured the diameter of the tree to be 69 inches and, based on their calculations, estimated the age of the tree to be 275.

Kamdar has lived in her home with the tree in the front yard for the past 20 years.

“Our realtor told us it was the oldest tree in Kosciusko County when we bought the house, but she did not know any other details, other than students from Lincoln Elementary — back in the day — used to come here for a little field trip to see how many kids hand-in-hand it took to go around the tree,” Kamdar said Friday.

The sidewalk project started about five years ago when the city received an 80/20 federal grant of $1.1 million for it through the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2018, with the project slated to be constructed in 2022, according to past Times-Union articles.

However, bid issues delayed the start of the project, including bids were well over what INDOT and the city had allotted for the project, and it went out to bid for a third time in January 2023.

A June 6, 2023, article states the total cost of the project is $3,276,784, with the federal aid providing $2,620,810.80 of the cost and the local match to be $665,973.20.

The sidewalks are within the area bordered by Sheridan, Scott, Colfax and Main streets and total over 2 miles.

“I did not know anything about the sidewalk project or the tree coming down. They had spoken to my now-ex-husband prior to our divorce, and he shared with them that he would be more than happy to have the tree come down,” Kamdar explained.

When she found out on Monday, Oct. 16, about the plan, she reached out to City Planner Justin Taylor who told her he had talked to her ex-husband about it four years ago.

“I just expressed to him my concern over the tree because it’s healthy, it’s thriving, it is a beautiful, beautiful tree. And, the age of the tree, at the time I just said it’s over 100 years old, I knew that much. He said he really felt the same way about the tree and he was surprised that my ex-husband was so willing to get rid of it. And they have told me more than once that they wish I had been the one that answered the phone on that day because this would be a completely different story,” she said.

Kamdar understands that the city can’t make any promises about saving the tree, but they’re looking at potential alternative ways to work around the tree.

She said the tree has withstood over 200 years of life, so if they need to cut a couple roots that wouldn’t matter. While there’s been an occasional small dead limb, Kamdar said she really hasn’t had any problems with the Sycamore.

“Sycamore trees are considered a dirty tree just because the Sycamore balls put out a lot of pollen and a lot of dropping them, but that’s what God intended a tree to do. It sheds every few years, the bark of the tree,” she said.

A month doesn’t go by where somebody stops while Kamdar is working out in the yard and they ask her about the tree. They often will ask her if they can take their picture in front of the tree.

“It is such an iconic part of Kosciusko County that - progress is progress. I understand that sidewalks need to happen. I understand that for the safety of our kids going to and from school. But there has to be a point where cement can’t win when you’re dealing with an over-200-year-old tree,” she said, adding that she feels that Taylor and Phend & Brown, the project contractor, are committed to try to find a way to work around the tree and do something that honors the tree and its history in the county.

She said Phend & Brown has been “so kind” with her concerns, and they have delayed the removal of the Sycamore while attempts are made to see if there’s a workaround.

“At the end of the day if it has to come down, at least we’ve exhausted all of our resources on doing what we can to save the tree,” Kamdar said.

She understands a federal grant is paying for the sidewalk project and that grant comes with guidelines that have to be followed.

“And I do want to enter this whole thing with grace and respect to the situation that they’re in, but if there is any way for them to work around this tree, I am so confident that they will do that and that gives me hope,” she stated.

Taylor said they don’t want to go in and damage the root system of the tree and then later have the tree decline to where it has to be cut down anyway at the additional expense of the taxpayers.

“As part of this project, it could be removed, but if we go back in later, it would be out of the scope of the project, so there’s a number of considerations,” he said. “As part of the federal project, there’s a lot of connectivity - ADA ramps that we have to keep in mind as well. So, that’s why there’s a conflict there because we have to connect north-south across Sheridan.”

\He said they talked to one of the property owners years ago about the tree and there didn’t seem to be any issue there then.

“We were trying to get ahead of this years ago. As a city, it’s not our intention to catch anybody off guard or surprise anybody about something like this. Even though it is in the right-of-way, we want to be sensitive to the homeowners,” Taylor said.

He said they’re doing everything they can now to look at and save the tree as everybody on the project would love to be able to save the tree, but they’re being realistic as well as there could be complications with how that sidewalks goes in.

Taylor, who guessed the tree was more than 275 years old, said the removal of the tree has been delayed a little bit so they can “wrap our heads around how the design might be modified at this point to accommodate the tree.”

He reminded the public that the intention of the sidewalk project is to provide safe routes for children to get to school.

“So we’ve got an elementary school there. We’ve got very vulnerable populations. The schools are encouraging kids to walk to school, so we want to keep that in mind ... We definitely want to make sure that everybody keeps in mind that this whole project was for the intention of benefitting the school kids and making sure they have a safe way of getting to and from school,” Taylor said.

A tree will be replanted for about each tree taken down as part of the sidewalk project, though he acknowledged you can’t replace a 275-year-old tree.

The post Sheridan Street homeowner hopes to save centuries-old Sycamore appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

WARSAW -- Construction of a multi-million dollar sidewalk improvement plan near Lincoln Elementary in Warsaw is now on the horizon.

(see map at the bottom of this story)

The city of Warsaw has been seeking to improve sidewalks west of the school for years, but it’s been a long four-year slog. 

The city is working with the Indiana Department of Transportation, which will cover 80 percent of the cost of the project. 

All of the work will be west of the school, according to Justin Taylor, the city’s plan director.

The city made it a priority years ago after Warsaw Community Schools made an effort to expand the areas near schools where children can walk to and from the school.

"It's about two miles of new sidewalk -- so yeah, it's substantial," said Justin Taylor, the city planner.

"That's why we brought in INDOT and they're paying for 80 percent of it. Locally it would have been harder for us to come up with all the funds to pay for two miles of sidewalk. With INDOT, there's a lot more to the process, but we're able to get more bang for the buck."

Four years ago, the project was expected to cost about $1.2 million. The price tag is now $3.2 million.

Taylor said they've seen those price hikes across the board when doing projects.

While some of the work involves sidewalk replacement, much it will be adding new sidewalks where there were none before.

Construction is set to begin this fall and should be complete by the spring.

[caption id="attachment_79618" align="aligncenter" width="800"] The above map, provided by the city of Warsaw, outlines the area where sidewalks will be constructed.[/caption]

The post Major sidewalk project slated for area west of Lincoln Elementary in Warsaw appeared first on News Now Warsaw.