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Greenbelt City Council looks to make the Empirian Village apartment complex safer with the help of a $100,000 grant that will enhance street light visibility and reduce the likelihood of power outages by trimming trees.

The Community Development Block Grant was given to Greenbelt in March 2009 to be used in Empirian Village. The money was originally supposed to be used by Dec. 31, but the city applied for an extension and now has until June 30, said Assistant City Manager David Moran.

The council has discussed using the money for planting, trimming and removing trees, the installation of two emergency call boxes and energy-efficient lighting upgrades.

Approximately $46,000 of the grant would be used to prune trees that are blocking streetlights on Springhill Drive and Breezewood Drive, as well as remove and replace some of the trees on Springhill Drive with smaller trees due to their age, size and severe pruning.

Lesley Riddle, the city's assistant director of Public Works, said that $4,000 would go to planting six new trees as well as the removal of additional trees in the future.

"We're choosing smaller trees, because we're getting smarter about planting under power lines and [because of] what PEPCO does to our trees," Riddle said. "Truly, when you're looking at long-term and the aesthetics of our trees, [having larger trees] doesn't work."

Pepco Spokesman Clay Anderson said trees were the main cause of power outages during storms and that it is important to plant small trees.

"Small trees, those less than 25 feet tall, are the only trees that should be considered for under or near power lines," Anderson wrote in an e-mail.

The remainder of the money has been proposed to pay for two emergency call boxes and upgraded lighting. Proposed locations for the call boxes are along Metro Access Drive and Springhill Drive.

Moran said the Metro Access Drive location is the only pedestrian access to the Metro Station.

Kelly Lawson, the Greenbelt crime prevention and community relations officer, said there have been instances where people were robbed or assaulted in that area, but none have occurred recently. The Springhill Drive location is near Springhill Lake Elementary School and a mini-mart.

Moran said the call boxes and lighting upgrades were still "part of the project," and he is hopeful to meet with council about the remaining $50,000 in the coming months.

Riddle suggested adding three crepe myrtles and three hedge maples near the area where the six trees would be removed because of their ability to remain small and tolerate pollution and bad soil.

Council members Rodney Roberts and Edward Putens didn't like Riddle's choice of crepe myrtles as street trees because of their inability to shade sidewalks.

Riddle said she would submit other types of trees for consideration, but "the bottom line is we're never going to get this crowning over the street. We're just not going to get that because of the wires."

E-mail Jordan Attebury at jattebury@gazette.net.