At the November 5, 2025, Sterling Heights City Council meeting, during the concluding comments open to council, the newly re-elected Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawaski reflected on the election outcome. First, by highlighting the decades of work and distinguished contributions of long-time Councilwoman Deanna Koski (and notably a consistent and strong advocate for nature preservation!), 36 years of dedicated service, who sadly did not win re-election this term.
Following this, the Mayor Pro Tem brought up a specific concern raised by this community during the election: the development on North Van Dyke, the CCF2 project, which threatens our treasured oak, neighboring landmark trees, and habitat.1 Perhaps a rather unexpected request to many now that the election is over, but also a sign of interest in continuing the dialogue vs. considering it all a “done deal.” Recall the pending purchase agreement checkpoint mentioned here before, where the status of permits and financing can be reviewed if not secured by January 1, 2026, and where either party can change course.
The community’s continued interest in preserving this green space and this tree has far outweighed the number of people calling for its development, long after the council votes in August 2024. But as mentioned on our site’s front page: “The tree stands, and hope persists until bulldozers and chainsaws arrive.“
This may be nothing other than a general update given the approaching checkpoint. But it also represents an opportunity for the newly elected/re-elected officials to consider all that has taken place over the past 15 months or so.
The concluding remarks are queued below, where you can watch this segment of the discussion as well as the other remarks about the election outcomes and Mrs. Koski’s contributions.
Petition Update
The Sterling Oak petition has 3471 signatures as of today, with at least 60% from Sterling Heights.
Thanks to all of you for your continued interest and support of the Sterling Oak, showing the tree’s roots of influence extend far beyond its own footprint. Once more information is known about the requested update, it will be posted here – but keep City Council meetings in December on your radar.
- Sterling Heights City Council Minutes, Nov 5, 2025 ↩︎
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