where are you

Around here, Kwanzans are very short lived. They also take up a lot of space since they have to mature a fair amount before they are large enough to cut the lower limbs off. If those are truly your two choices, I'd go with the maples all around.

Do you know your USDA zone? Will these trees be under overhead powerlines? Is your area aggressive in it's use of road salt? Are fireblight, Japaese beetles, Eastern Longhorn Beetles or Cedar Apple Rust a problem in your area? Is the soil swampy?

Japanese Cherries are beautiful in Spring but short lived and temperamental in may areas. October Glory Maple are good, Earth Friendly native trees with great fall color and are a lot tougher. Bigger, though.

NEVER let anyone tell you you have only two choices when you are less then a half hour drive from New York City. A little time on the internet should show you plenty of places that sell almost anything that can survive in your climate (and quite a few that can't).

Of your original list, Eastern Redbud is a stunning but short lived native. Shadblow Serviceberry and Canada Red Chokcherry are natives that are pretty in the Spring. Japanese Tree Lilac and Kousa Dogwood are beautiful.

Look around your neighborhood to see if Japanese Cherries look healthy...it is a very variable microclimate thing. Find out if Asian Longhorn beetles are in your area. Google local nurseries.

The trees you plant are one of the most lasting decisions you make...you will probably renovate the kitchen several times in the lifetime of a maple.

Is this list a list of recommendations? Or is it absolutely required you follow this list? Are these street trees planted on the boulevard or are these your trees, in your yard?

From the list, I'd use dogwood and Japanese lilac. Since you live somewhere where you can grow something other than chokecherry (prunus virginiana is chokecherry), I most definitely would grow anything else. Amur maple has a place...if you are limited on what will survive. you're someplace in z6...so not really that limited. serviceberry is popular, but a magnet for disease issue in the heat and humidity of local summers. get some elevation, or where summers don't flirt with 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity...different story.

this is an odd assortment to choose from. any chance these are what the builder is supplying?

This is what October Glory looks like in central NJ:

...or is it Autumn Blaze? uh-oh :)

Is the town picky or are they mandating you must use these two trees in 3" caliper format?

If so get in writing from the town that they are mandated (or on their website if they have one).

The Cherry is a horrendous tree to mandate due to pest and disease issues.

October glory is ok if you don't plan to garden around it long term AND have acidic soil.

I'd see if they are open to alternates with superior qualities.

are these being planted on town property or on your own?

I've seen towns with very robust forestry departments that really wanted to control what was planted where as far as street trees...mostly their way of managing the diversity of canopy across the town. If not on town property, they really have very little to say about what you do or don't plant. unless you are part of a HOA.

I'll assume there is an escrow with holding until there is a tree of a certain size?

All it takes is one person with very particular preferences to get on a local board to muck everything up. It's happened in the town where I work...one person who thinks they are important got on a local board, now every plant on every road needs to be from an approved list. Sad thing is, for being so persnickety, they barely know their prunus virginiana from their prunus padus.

Of course, those two Sec. Padus cherries are so similar to one another that it has been thought maybe they should be considered the same species.

One selects tree species based on their position in the landscape, as it relates to the surroundings. We know none of that, having never seen a panoramic photograph of the site & home. Picking trees this way is a complete crap shoot. As others have said, the list is faulty .... one potential shade tree (October Glory) and the rest a mishmash. I would definitely not choose cherry because of the form & disease factors. I would find the trees I want and then find a way to get them passed. (3" caliper is a trunk diameter size at a given height above grade ... so you don't install tiny whips.)

Of the list you presented, I'd opt for the Tree Lilac in the front. All of the others are less than ideal choices for one reason or another.

Whoever is limiting your tree selections really doesn't know what they're doing, because their selection list is filled with invasive, disease-prone, trees with extremely slow growth and odd structures.

It's almost as if they are working in conjunction with a supplier that needs to off-load less desirable trees and shrubs ...

bboy, for someone who is so clearly a splitter when it comes to plant identification, now you become a lumper?