Neenah Is Replanting Its Parks First. Your Street's Trees Come Last, on Purpose.

At Kimberly Point, the lighthouse has a much clearer view than it did in the spring. In early August, FOX 11 reported that few trees in the small lakefront park, if any, came through the July 27 tornado untouched. The trees still standing were left with broken and hanging limbs. Riverside Park and Doty Park took similar damage. Across the city, more than 400 public trees were damaged or removed.

On October 8, the City of Neenah released a multi-year tree replanting plan. The parks are replanted first and the street terraces last, and the city explains why. For the next two years, Riverside will fill back in well before the strip of grass between your sidewalk and the curb.

The order, season by season

Here is the city's tentative schedule. The tree counts are its estimates.

1. September 2026, Riverside Park: about 35 trees. Neenah News reported on October 16 that this planting was done.
2. Spring 2027, Riverside Park: about 70 more trees.
3. Late summer and fall 2027, Doty, Kimberly Point and Fresh Air parks: about 80 trees across the three.
4. Fall 2028, street terraces: about 160 trees.

Riverside comes first for a reason. Parks and Recreation Director Michael Kading told FOX 11 that he expected 60 to 75 percent of Riverside's trees would not be standing next year, compared with 50 to 60 percent at Kimberly Point and at Doty. The park that lost the largest share of its trees gets two rounds of planting before the other parks get one.

Some things in Riverside did make it. A Post-Crescent photo gallery from the day after the storm shows the Rocket Slide still standing behind a splintered tree.

Why the terraces wait until 2028

The 160 street trees make up the largest single phase, and they come last. The city's reasoning puts residents ahead of the canopy. Street-tree replacement is set for fall 2028 "to give residential property owners time to repair homes, garages and yards without the added concern of protecting newly planted trees or accommodating planting contractors."

In practice, if your block lost terrace trees, two summers will likely pass before city crews plant new ones there. A young tree in the terrace would sit right where roofers park and where dumpsters and lumber deliveries land. The schedule assumes many households are still in the middle of that work.

Two longtime city programs are paused for the same reason. To put staff time and funding toward storm recovery, the city has suspended its Trees for the Living and Private Street Tree programs for at least two years, effective October 8. If you planned to request a memorial tree or a privately funded street tree this year, those routes are closed for now.

Kimberly Point gets its lighthouse back before its shade

Kimberly Point is the one park where two recovery timelines overlap, and they don't line up. The trees are in the late summer and fall 2027 planting phase. The lighthouse is due back sooner.

The city broke ground on the Kimberly Point Lighthouse Preservation Project on September 9 at 290 Lakeshore Ave. NBC 26 reported that the work will restore the lighthouse inside and out, improve accessibility and protect the structure's integrity, and that city leaders hope to finish by spring 2027. At the ceremony, Kading spoke about the lighthouse coming through the storm.

"Amongst the chaos and the destruction of the tornado, the lighthouse was still standing proving safe passage and hope that a brighter day was to come."

That line comes from NBC 26's coverage, which also quoted Mayor Brian Borchardt calling the landmark "symbolic of what the people of Neenah are." The ceremony ended with music and Dilly Bars.

The project was funded well before the storm. The Post-Crescent reported in January that the city reached its $280,000 donation goal with gifts from more than 140 "Beacon Keepers." The mayor and council budgeted $565,000 for the project. When the campaign launched in 2025, FOX 11 described the planned work: a rebuilt interior, restored exterior elements, metal roofing, composite cladding in place of exterior wood, and accessible entrances and bathrooms. FOX 11 cited the Wisconsin Historical Society for the lighthouse's 1945 construction date.

This matters because of how many people use the park. City leaders told NBC 26 that an average of about 500 people visit the lighthouse park every day in summer. If both schedules hold, those visitors will spend at least part of summer 2027 at a restored, more accessible lighthouse in a park that is still waiting for its new trees.

The trees that come back won't be mostly maples

The plan also changes what the canopy will look like. More than half of Neenah's current public trees are maples. Urban forestry best practice says no single species should make up more than 10 percent of a healthy tree population. The city will choose the replacement species with an emphasis on climate resilience, disease resistance, species diversity and long-term canopy value.

So the new trees in the Riverside, Doty, Kimberly Point and Fresh Air plantings, and eventually along the terraces, are meant to be a broader mix than what came down. Neenah has been a Tree City USA community for more than 40 years. For a city with that history, a storm that took out a canopy dominated by one species is also a chance to replant a more varied one. The new plantings will take years to reach full shade, and the fall color along the parks will change as they grow in.

What the next twelve months look like

The parks are open. WBAY reported in late August that all Neenah city parks had reopened after the closures FOX 11 covered in the first week, when Riverside, Kimberly Point, Doty, Fresh Air and Lakeshore Avenue were all shut. A few things are worth knowing heading into winter and spring:

• More trees may come down in spring. The city's tree assessment is expected to continue for six to 12 months. Crews are looking for trees that "may appear sound now but could show storm-related failure as they leaf out next spring." Spring 2027 may bring more pruning and removals at the same time Riverside gets its 70 new trees.
• Winter restrooms are limited. Seasonal park restrooms began closing for winter on October 12. The restrooms at Shattuck Park and at the George Scherck Shelter in Memorial Park stay open year-round, according to the Parks and Recreation September newsletter.
• You can pay for a tree. The city's recommended donation for one public tree is $500, which it says roughly covers buying it, planting it and its first year of care. You can give online through the link on the city's replanting page or in person at the Parks & Recreation Office, 211 Walnut Street.
• Volunteer planting days are coming. The city says it will hold volunteer planting days and community forestry events but hasn't set dates yet. Parks & Recreation can be reached at 920-886-6060.

If the schedule holds, the next big change people will see is spring 2027. Riverside gets its second and larger planting, and Kimberly Point's lighthouse is due to reopen in a park that will still be waiting about half a year for its new trees.

At Batterman Integrity Group, we live and work in the Fox Cities too, and we're following Neenah's recovery block by block. If your yard, garage or terrace is part of the repair work the city's schedule is built around, and you'd like a local view of how that work affects your home's value, we'd be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a Free Consultation & Home Valuation.