The state tree of Texas is in trouble in McKinney.
A developer wants to rip out hundreds of pecan trees to build a subdivision.
The grove of trees is in a floodplain near the intersection of State Highway 380 and Lake Forest Drive.
Right now, the trees are blossoming, but when they're full of pecans Harry Hickey says the grove is full of people picking them up off the ground.
"They produce a lot of pecans," Hickey said. "When they're here they're picking them up almost every day."
The trees' Texas heritage is part of the reason Hickey and hundreds of others are fighting back against a proposal to uproot them.
"I wouldn't want it in my backyard," he said.
A developer wants to replace the pecan trees and hundreds of others with a group of 40 homes.
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The subdivision would be built on a 26-acre property. Twenty-five acres are in a 100-year floodplain.
The developer wants to excavate part of the land to keep storm water from flooding the new homes.
"I'm just afraid they're going to cut some of those down and all we're going to see is another subdivision," neighbor Vince Dragotta said.
The city says the pecan grove was planted in the 1970s.
In addition to the hundreds of trees that would be torn down, the city says there are about five "Heritage Trees," or trees that are taller than 42 feet, or about the height of the average utility pole.
So far, the proposal hasn't grown roots.
Hickey says he turned in a petition to the city with hundreds of signatures asking the proposal be denied.
The city's tree board and planning and zoning committee have turned it down.
The city council will have the final say at a meeting Tuesday night.
The hope for neighbors is that a city with the slogan "Unique by Nature" stays that way.
