By January, Burnaby’s tree bylaw will have a bigger bark, but the two years it took to get to this point is worrying a local tree enthusiast.
In 2011, local resident Donna Polos presented to council and called for stricter rules around cutting down trees in the city. This past summer, the city came back with amendments, including bigger permit fees and guidelines around tree cutting.
“I’ve been waiting two-and-a-half years,” Polos told the Burnaby NOW. “I wish it had been done in six months to a year. I kept phoning the city and asking city hall, and it was really frustrating.”
Polos said since the summer, two properties near her home in South Burnaby went on a tree-cutting rampage: one home cut down about 70 per cent of its tree, while the other cut down all of them. Polos speculates it was done to avoid the stiffer fines and process outlined in the bylaw amendments.
“The thing is, my concern is when people caught wind of this whole thing – when city hall put out the changes to the bylaw – people were clear cutting,” she noted. “I’m worried people are going to get wind of this now, and between now and January we’ll have a multitude of people taking them down.”
Despite the wait, Polos said she’s happy with the changes being made.
“I am very pleased with what they had proposed,” she added. “I’ve lived in this neighbourhood for over 40 years. Also, I have seen a lot of changes in the landscape, particularly in South Burnaby. If you fly over, there used to be a lot of trees in South Burnaby, but now you see them only in Central Park and Champlain Heights.”
Since the summer, the city has had five information displays, and one ran for a month, which was visited by more than 200 people, according to a city report.
The public opinion survey results rendered 158 responses, and 70 per cent supported the changes.
The forthcoming changes include expanding the bylaw to include all private and public lands, properties going under development would require a permit to remove any tree 20 centimetres or greater in diameter and properties not undergoing development would need a permit to remove a conifer tree 30 cm or more in diameter and any broadleaf tree 45 cm or more. It would also increase permit fees $70 to $500 (for one- and two-family lots not under development) or $150 to $1,000 (for one- and two-family lots under development).
At Monday night’s city council meeting, Coun. Sav Dhaliwal once again expressed his opposition to the bylaw amendments.
“I find (them) a bit too onerous,” he said. “Particularly because the current existing bylaw is working reasonably well. I think it’s too restrictive.”
At a delegation presented to council in late October, 40-year resident Walter Hallam called the tree bylaw changes restrictive and said they infringed on property owner rights.
“In my observations, the canopy cover in Burnaby is no less now than five, 10, 20 or 40 years ago,” he said. “To yours and previous councils, great credit is due. Development over the years has been handled well.”
At the Nov. 4 meeting, council approved the staff report, which will lead to bylaw amendments coming forward. Final approval for the bylaws is expected for January.
Mayor Derek Corrigan said he was torn making a decision on the bylaw but supported it in the end.
“I’ve always been one who really believed in people’s property rights and the ideal someone should, within bounds, be able to do what they wanted on their property, but I’m persuaded that this is a pretty reasonable approach.”
Corrigan said the city has a responsibility to protect more than trees in parks.
“With the density we’re expecting in some areas, protecting the trees where we can and the grounds for which trees can be taken down are fairly extensive and we cover reasonable issues that … for a homeowner.”
