Hydro cuts trees despite protests
Workers cut dozens of trees behind the Sunnybrooke Village condos in Dollard- des- Ormeaux on Tuesday. Hydro- Québec deemed them too close to power lines.
A group of Dollard- des- Ormeaux residents have failed to persuade Hydro- Québec to abort its plan to cut down several dozen mature trees on a Hydro right- of- way along the southern border of two condominium developments east of Sources Blvd.
Early Tuesday, crews arrived at Sunnybrook Village Condominium and Glenview Green Condominium to begin cutting down 50 trees on a servitude bordering the two contiguous condo properties that connect near Agora St.
The trees, standing at least 2.5 metres tall, were identified by Hydro last fall as interfering with the two power transmission lines that run through the right- ofway in that area of Dollard-des-Ormeaux.
Representatives of the residents in the two condo developments — the 168- unit Glenview Green and the 413- unit Sunnybrook — have lobbied Hydro officials, the City of Dollard and representatives in the constituency office of Liberal MNA Carlos Leitão in an attempt to save the trees.
On Monday, those representatives met Hydro- Québec officials in a last- ditch effort to persuade Hydro to trim some of the trees rather than cut them down and to replace the mature trees that have to be cut down with new trees.
But their efforts were unsuccessful.
“It’s shameful,” said Beatrix Polanski, one of the representatives and a condo owner at Glenview Green.
“They are going forward regardless of our concerns. People walk there, walk their dogs and the trees hide the pylons.”
She said what was especially disappointing was being told that tree- trimming wasn’t an option and that no new trees would be planted.
“Why can’t they trim the trees?” said Polanski. “It seems crazy when there is all this talk about preserving the tree canopy. The City of Montreal has a tree policy for expanding and protecting trees.”
Jean- Philippe Rousseau, a Hydro spokesperson, said the plan is to remove only trees that pose a risk to the power transmission lines and public safety.
Rousseau explained that transmission lines differ from the hightension wires running from pole to pole on city streets in that tree branches don’t need to touch the wires in order to create a power outage.
Electric arcing can occur without a tree ever touching a transmission line and create a disruption in service, Rousseau said.
“There are many factors that must be taken into account to determine the safe distance of clearance.
“Our goal is not to eliminate all the vegetation,” Rousseau said. “Short trees and shrubs are being left alone. We are only cutting down trees over 2.5 metres high.”