NOTL close to untangling private property tree bylaw
Town councillors in Niagara-onthe-Lake are scrambling to get a bylaw passed to protect trees on private properties in the urban areas before their term expires.
The issue has come up many times over the past three years through requests from residents, an online survey, an open house and delegations to council. Last week councillors debated at length whether a bylaw is necessary and if it is, what should be included in it.
“I feel like we are doing this half-assed, willy-nilly,” said Coun. Maria Bau-Coote.
Coun. Jim Collard was adamantly opposed to new rules that would only apply to residential properties in the urban areas while excluding large rural properties such as those along the Niagara Parkway, Queenston Road and York Road.
“It’s setting us up for two classes of property owners,” he said, arguing that residents in the urban area would have to bear the costs associated with applications for tree removal while rural residents “could do whatever they want.”
He also wanted to see what he called “weed” and “mistake” trees excluded from proposed new regulations on preservation. Collard said the fruit that falls from female gingko trees smells like vomit, soft maple trees topple over in storms and falling walnuts cause damage.
The other councillors agreed with Collard that the main issue the bylaw seeks to address is stopping the cutting down of large numbers of trees for new residential developments. Some of them expressed concerns about the regulations also applying to private property owners which could pit neighbours against one another and be costly for individual property owners.
Coun. Jamie King said he supported a draft bylaw to protect trees on private property “to get the ball rolling”, but he stressed that it would require “enormous revisions” due to expected costs for enforcement.
Rural resident Austin Kirkby said she understands concerns about the loss of tree canopies in some areas where there is residential development, but she disagreed with some of the proposed regulations.
She questioned why a property owner would have to pay for a certificate from an arbourist to justify the removal of a dead or hazardous tree and argued that the proposed bylaw could severely impact property owners with large residential lots who want to remove a few trees.
A draft bylaw prepared by staff was approved by the town’s community and development advisory committee with a few revisions from councillors. It is expected to come to council for approval in September and if it passes, it would come into effect in the new year.