South Bend resident voices safety concerns amid Potawatomi Park tree cutdown

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The City of South Bend is now entering phase "2A" of the River Park Neighborhood Plan as ten trees along the Northside of Kid's Kingdom are coming down to create more parking space for the growing visiting population at the Potawatomi Zoo.

As someone who has played a pivotal role in helping raise money to bring Kid's Kingdom to Potawatomi Park, South Bend resident Patrick McKelvey is not enthused about the project.

McKelvey says the problem isn't so much that they are cutting down trees, it's the location they are choosing.

"If you randomly took ten trees out of the park, it would probably be okay," McKelvey says. "But it's all ten trees on the North Side of Kid's Kingdom that provide the shade canopy and the protective area over Kid's Kingdom."

McKelvey believes cutting down trees on the north side of the park will only raise the surface temperature on the playground, resulting in possible injury or even exhaustion from frequent visitors.

As the city of South Bend has plans to continue their work through Potawatomi Park, McKelvey says he is working on putting an end to this, temporarily.

"Contacted an attorney today," McKelvey says. "We hope to get a temporary restraining order and shut this whole park project down until we can all come to an agreement."

The City of South Bend sent a statement, saying:

"The City understands the importance of preserving and expanding its tree canopy. To support this effort, the City has planted 498 new trees in 2026 to date and distributed 350 trees to residents through Arbor Day events.

Limited tree removal was identified in the new Potawatomi Park Plan to accommodate additional parking needs to improve accessibility and accommodate growing number of visitors to the Potawatomi Zoo, the Potawatomi Conservatories, and other events and activities held within Potawatomi Park. On September 3, 2026, detailed plans for Park improvements were discussed and shared at an open public meeting.

The parking lot expansion was carefully designed to preserve as many existing trees as possible. Several of the trees slated for removal were identified as diseased and in need of replacement. As a result of this project, Potawatomi Park will see a net increase of 23 trees. In addition, 27 new trees were planted throughout the park as part of improvement projects completed last year.

There are no plans to alter or remove Kid’s Kingdom playground at this time. South Bend's approach is not simply to replace trees. The City works to avoid removals whenever possible, preserve mature canopy, and plant significantly more trees than are removed when projects move forward."