LEXINGTON, Ky. — The City of Lexington is taking more action against Kentucky Utilities (KU) to stop cutting down trees. 

What You Need To Know

  • A Lexington neighborhood is expressing their outrage about trees being cut

  • Kentucky Utilities is removing or trimming trees in six Lexington neighborhoods, including on Lansdowne Drive

  • Earlier this week, police arrested a woman protesting KU's action. She shares her story

  • City of Lexington filed for an injunction and a lawsuit seeking damages to KU

Court filings show the city is seeking a temporary injunction and suing the utility company for removing trees that may not pose an immediate or long-term threat to transmission lines, among many reasons.

Earlier this week, police arrested a Lexington woman for trespassing while protesting the removal of the trees.

"It's been what John Lewis would say, 'Feels like it's good trouble,'" said Laura Zimmerman, a Lexington homeowner.

Zimmerman is passionate about her convictions.

"There are some people who have done it to have been beaten, you know, who have died for what they believe in and this was just a little minor inconvenience," Zimmerman said.

The minor inconvenience she's referencing is her arrest Monday.

"Yeah, I have been active but never to the point of being going to jail. So this would be the first time," Zimmerman said.

It was while protesting to stop Kentucky Utilities from cutting trees — in the median on Lansdowne Drive neighborhood.

"It was really sad to see these small trees come down in Lansdowne median, which would never touch those wires but for some reason, KU has that right," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said her arrest is a positive turn of events drawing attention to Kentucky Utilities and their practices on tree cutting or removal.

"You know, there are 40 miles of transmission wires through Lexington. So we're not going to be the last neighborhood that is impacted by this indiscriminate cutting of trees.

She said a tree-service company through KU came earlier this year to trim her tall trees in her backyard. So she acknowledges that transmission wires require protection, but the trees in the median on Lansdowne Drive are nowhere near that height.

"The biggest beef about those trees on Lansdowne median and if anyone's been down that street is that they are not tall and it was like we were living in an alternate reality. Everybody except KU thought those trees were fine," Zimmerman said.

KU said they cannot comment on legal action but said in a statement to Spectrum News 1, “Our work is critical to the safety and reliability of the system. We respect the mayor and city council members, and that is why we have met with them more than 20 times on this issue, and have agreed to modify our approach temporarily and focus only on trees that pose an immediate risk. Our replanting work will continue, and we worked with the city on our replanting efforts. for every tree we have to remove in the medians we’re putting at least one back with compatible species.” 

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