KINGSTON — Before Earth Day, Kingston Christian Church had seven trees at the front of its property.

Now there aren’t any, the result of a project the church undertook for safety reasons.

The church discussed removal of the trees after an arborist declared at least two of those trees to be unhealthy and rotted, according to pastor Scott Pennington.

Removal was something that only recently was possible within the constraints of the church budget.

Aside from the rot, there were also safety concerns regarding the trees.

“Everytime we’ve had a major windstorm, or any big wind come up, we’ve had big limbs falling, four to six inches in diameter,” Pennington said.

Because the trees were close to the building and right over the walkway, this posed a serious concern, Pennington said.

He added that there are a number of children and families that walk along that pathway every week with a danger of being hurt by falling branches.

Also in danger, he said, were the buildings on the property. Pennington said the oldest building on the property is about 100 years old, and the oldest tree was only about 80.

“We love trees,” Pennington said. “We love the neighborhood, our community. “It was just something, the way we thought, of being good stewards of our property.”

Since the church took down those trees, Pennington said they’ve received a few comments and concerns from their neighbors and other passersby, partially because the felling took place on April 22, which was Earth Day.

“That was just unfortunate timing,” Pennington said.

“It was a matter of, we finally … had the money in our budget to do it.”

He added that many people brought up the date of the felling in their concerns, but after explaining the safety concerns and how some of the trees were rotted, “the majority of the people were very understanding.”

“Not everybody understands, and not everybody’s going to agree,” Pennington said.

After felling the trees, Pennington said some cords of firewood were given for free to families in the church who use wood to heat, and other cords were sold to help finance a mission trip church members will be taking to Mexico in the summer.

As for landscaping, Pennington said the church takes a couple days a year as a “work day” for the grounds. He said that at the back of the property, there are “a few blossoming trees,” and they will “most likely plant something there to take the place” of the felled trees.

“We love trees,” he said. “They’re beautiful. [Removing the trees] was really out of concern for the property. We just felt it was a safety concern.”