One-hectare natural area earns respite
Council votes against option to rezone hectare of wooded area for development
A stand of trees won a battle Monday at City Hall.
Councillors voted at a public hearing not to rezone the one-hectare property for the development of a fire station, or for commercial and medium density residential housing. The tree stand is designated a municipal reserve or natural area, and sits on city-owned land.
In an ecological assessment in 2016, city officials said the trees had “health concerns” and appeared “dying and damaged,” and the tree stand was isolated, which resulted in the area not being used by wildlife too often.
“Through the development of the surrounding commercial area, drainage to the tree stand ... was not sufficient to sustain the longterm health of the natural area,” the report said.
Several people who live the area spoke against the rezoning at the hearing Monday, and for leaving it as a natural area.
“I’ll be curious to understand how this went from the trees are not doing so good, to maybe we should put a fire station and expand the shopping centre nearby,” said Mayor Don Iveson.
“That was the part that left many of us scratching our heads.”
He said there was “zero appetite” for the rezoning among councillors, and the proposal was unanimously rejected.
Charles Richmond, Sierra Club Canada’s urban issues co-ordinator, said the tree stand is small, but natural and “unmanicured.”
“The bush is so thick, it’s close to impenetrable,” he said. “It changes every year ... Old trees die, fall; seasonal wetlands aren’t wet every year, or are flooded … It’s an unengineered world — infinitely complex, a place for adventure, to grow up with. We have very little of this left in the city outside of our ravines and river valley.”
Councillors voted to study the trees’ health further. A report is expected early next year.
“Even if it was destroyed as a tree stand, the next question is how would we replant it or reprogram it to continue to be a public recreational space with some vegetation,” Iveson said.