City leaders have promised to extend a little shade to members of the community. That’s because a long-standing complaint about downtown Clermont is finally being addressed, one tree at a time.

“It’ll take about two weeks once they get started,” says Natalie Kahler, executive director of Clermont Main Street.

What Natalie’s referring to is a new streetscaping project led by Clermont Main Street, the city of Clermont and Cherry Lake Tree Farm that’s now underway with installation of maturing trees that began this week along Montrose Street.

The Montrose Street work marks phase one of a three-phase plan that will eventually carry over to nearby streets, creating what Kahler says will become a more walkable, comfortable downtown.

“One of the complaints that we get about downtown is it’s really hot a lot of the time, and there’s not a lot of shade,” Natalie says. “If people are too warm to be outside enjoying themselves, then they’re just going to race from where they are intending to go and probably not linger around for a little while.”

The goal is to give people a reason to stay.

“Our thought was to create a cooler space where people would feel more comfortable walking around and relaxing,” she says.

The project goes beyond aesthetics. It also focuses heavily on sustainability, using native plants and water-efficient landscaping. Cherry Lake Tree Farm is supplying, installing and maintaining the landscaping.

“We want to help, not just the city, but anybody we can with the water conservation,” says Melbin Santana, an account manager with Cherry Lake Tree Farm. “The city’s doing a good thing by doing all sustainable landscape here, to preserve some of the water, which everybody knows we have a big issue with across the whole word.”

Instead of traditional grass, the design includes flowering ground cover that requires less irrigation, along with a layered mix of trees and shrubs.

“Some of the plants that are going to be coming in will be attracting all the butterflies and things that we love to see anywhere that we are,” Natalie says.

The project will also make an immediate visual impact. Rather than planting small saplings, crews are installing more mature trees from the start.

“We have red maples and sweet gums going in, which right away, are going to be 8 to 12 feet tall when they are put in,” Natalie says.

That means shade won’t take years to arrive. Natalie says a two-year maintenance agreement with Cherry Lake will help ensure long-term success which includes training for city staff to keep it up. 

“There’s nothing worse than spending a bunch of money on plants and having them die,” she says.

In total, plant installation along Montrose Street and beyond is estimated at about $80,000, a discounted rate Cherry Lake offered to help even further. The funding will be shared between Clermont Main Street and the city’s tree fund. 

As the trees grow, the impact is expected to deepen.

“Once these trees start growing, they will give you a nice canopy to where anybody can enjoy walking down,” Melbin says.

If all goes as planned, downtown Clermont won’t just look greener, it will feel different.

Not only that, but Natalie says it could become something even bigger. And for a downtown that’s already seeing more foot traffic, even on typically quiet days, that added comfort could make all the difference.

“Once we’re done, this is going to be the largest native plant landscaping in the entire state of Florida,” she says.