Editor:
Re: We’re losing a 100-foot cedar to a ‘monster’ home, NOW Letters
I am the previous owner/resident of 5850 Buckingham.
Our family lived there from 1964 to 2020. Unfortunately, that tree has had so many insults over the years from road and sidewalk construction, water-main breaks and BC Hydro that it really needs to come down.
The tree has not been "vertical" for a couple of years, listing to the north. If we had stayed, we would have asked Burnaby to remove it this year before all 100 feet fell on our house, taking out power lines and poles along the way.
This tree is visible.
What concerns me are the trees in the backs of property. When our neighbours built, they removed a huge old rare specimen of Monkey Puzzle Tree at the back of the property that was nowhere near the building envelope. I tried to get the city to protect that tree, but they were not interested. There is no real protection for old, rare or special trees.
If the builder claims it interferes, it goes. We will all miss the canopy of that old cedar, but it was done. We do need to take better care of the unusual specimens that have flourished in the lower Buckingham clay for years. Once these lots are paved over to put up parking lots for monster houses, they are lost.
Carol Stinson, Burnaby
