ALMA, N.B. -- Safety is being cited as the reason for a plan to remove three century-old maple trees from Main Street in Alma.

But a local business owner, who says the trees are on her property and she does not want them removed.

"It would be a huge disappointment," said Jane Chrysostom, whose family has lived on Main Street in Alma since the 1970s. The three large maple trees in front of the home had already been growing there for decades.

"We’ve taken sap from them for syrup and we’ve watched them change colour in the fall, Chrysostom says. "They’re quite a stately presence here in the village."

Still, the village is planning on cutting down the century-old trees to make way for an expanded sidewalk and additional on-street parking.

Peter Grandy is the co-owner of a brewery and cafe next door. He says the plan to remove the trees is a step forward.

"The real question is do we try to progress and build an infrastructure that can support a tourism industry or do we just stay the way things were," Grandy said.

Chrysostom says she’s tried to contact the village officials to discuss other options.

A village meeting Thursday evening was expected to provide some answers. Chrysostom says so far, those have been hard to come by.

It’s even unclear who owns the property the trees have taken root on.

"I was told when we had limb damage in a major storm eight years ago that the trees were our responsibility, so we bought a chainsaw and cleaned it up," Chrysostom said. "Most recently, in the last week, I’ve been told they’re village trees."

Chrysostom says the village established a sidewalk and crosswalk committee to address issues like this. She says that committee was not consulted on this particular project. That's another question she hoped to get an answer to at Thursday night's meeting.