Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton The roundabout at Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street is pictured in mid-September.

The design of the interior of the roundabout at Pennsylvania Avenue and Market Street in Warren is prompting city officials to amend plans for what will ultimately go in the middle.

The Parks, Recreation and Landscape Commission decided last month to place a Hemlock tree in the middle.

“The orientation of the utilities within that circle, there is an electrical ballast centered in that circle,” Joe Reinke, Department of Public Works Superintendent said. “To plant in the dead center of the circle is impossible.”

There’s a water spigot located on the side and a sewer line underneath that is “not something we have to contend with,” Reinke said. He also doesn’t “want to encroach on the catch basin that is in that circle.”

In spite of those barriers, he stressed that there is a “lot of growing space” and he proposed three trees – “keeping the symmetry to a triangle.”

His proposal, which the commission appeared to agree with, was three trees – one hemlock and two clump river birch.

“Basically, we could fabric and get big river rock in there around most of the area,” he added, with “mulch around the trees.”

The rock would appear on a slight rise to motorists.

Reinke recommended the birth species because of their low maintenance and “they wouldn’t outgrow their spot.”

“They would complement each other,” DCNR District Forester Cecile Stelter added.

Reinke said there will be three feet of topsoil in the center in addition to the clay, dirt base underneath the intersection.

“I’m not worried about the growing conditions,” he added.

City Manager Mike Holtz added that accent lighting will also be a part of the project.