Trees in park go unprotected
The city seems to be better at enforcing tree protection zone rules on private property than on its own land.
It’s hard not to come to that conclusion after observing the damage to trees from construction in Neil McLellan Park, between Runnymede Rd. and Beresford Ave.
To protect Toronto’s canopy, the city has rules requiring barriers around trees in proximity to construction, and claims to be serious about enforcing them.
It says “all construction related applications must include a Tree Pro- tection Plan that shows details of tree protection, prepared in conjunction with an arborist report or in consultation with an arborist, when protected trees are in proximity to the proposed work.”
Dave Bragg sent us photos of Neil McLellan and wrote that “as a homeowner, I have some experience with the city’s tree protection police.
“We’re used to the extensive hoarding (erected around trees) to protect our canopy. Therefore I was surprised to see this ’tree abuse’ going on in the parkette that connects Beresford to Runnymede.
“It appears that there may be one standard for the city and another standard for the rest of us.” We went and found two large, healthy trees that had sustained root damage from excavating less than a metre away from their trunks. We spoke to construction workers who seemed to have no idea about the rules for tree protection zones. Status: Chris Clarke, a technical services supervisor for west-end parks, said the company doing the work is on the roster of approved contractors, and should be aware of tree protection rules. But even if the contractor doesn’t, the parks department should. Jason Doyle, in charge of ur- ban forestry, said the rules that apply on private property also apply to city property, and that tree protection zones should have been put up. Urban forestry staff are looking into it and will make sure the rules are en- forced, he said. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or email jlakey@thestar.ca.