Mayor Tory ‘horrified’ over removal of trees on Bayview
The mayor says he's pushing for a "seven-figure" penalty for the removal of trees without a permit.

thestar.com
July 28, 2016
By David Rider

The clear-cutting of two thickly treed Bayview Ave. lots has “horrified” Mayor John Tory, who says he hopes any resulting prosecution results in fines of at least a million dollars to send a message to Toronto developers.

Tory visited the site south of York Mills Rd. on Thursday after the Star and other news outlets chronicled the fury of neighbours and local Councillor Jaye Robinson over the removal of trees at the north and south corners of Bayview and Bayview Ridge, including a Linden tree thought to be 150 years old.

Neighbours estimated 30 trees were torn down. In fact, Tory said, “several dozen” were removed to make way for townhouses - “the biggest (alleged) single infraction of its kind that we’ve ever seen in the city” - without any application to the city.

City forestry has a tree inventory that developer Format Group submitted to the Ontario Municipal Board which authorized the developer, over the city’s objections, to replace single-family homes with multiple townhouses. OMB building approval doesn’t exempt developers from Toronto’s tree bylaw aimed at preserving a healthy city canopy.

“We can’t be serious about trees to the point where we have debates about a single tree at the entire city council and then just let somebody come here, under not-quite cover of darkness, and take down dozens of trees, some of them a 100-plus years - it’s not acceptable . . . ” the mayor said, standing beside the mud fields strewn with logs.

“If people see you can just do that, everybody will start to do it.”

Format Group, which describes itself as a partnership of Terracomm Group and Pegah Construction, with more than 40 years combined experience, released a statement after Tory’s afternoon visit.

The developer noted it has OMB site plan and construction approval in principle. Its arborist submitted a “complete report,” including the number and location of trees to be removed, that has been “accepted and approved by the city’s urban forestry department,” the company said.

Format said it was told arrival of a city building permit was “imminent,” and assumed it could begin excavation, but then was told the city wants another inspection. “We assumed we were allowed to follow the report and prepare the site in anticipation of the building permit,” Format said, adding that is now co-operating with the city investigation.

City parks staff said in a statement that “during the development review, Urban Forestry has been clear that applications to injure or destroy trees would be required.”

Tory earlier called the notion that a developer smart and experienced enough to hire a lawyer to win at the OMB wouldn’t understand explicit requirements of the tree-removal bylaw “not really believable.”

The bylaw states anyone removing any tree with a trunk larger than 30 cm, about the size of a telephone pole, requires city approval. The bylaw has a maximum fine of $100,000 per tree and allows for a separate extra $100,000 penalty which has not been levied.

City staff say convictions in provincial offences court usually yield fines of about $5,000 per tree. That’s not enough in this case if a prosecution proceeds, said Tory.

He would like to see the maximum penalty plus the extra fine totalling a “seven-figure” penalty.

And if developers don’t get the message, or see such fines as a cost of building in Toronto’s hot real estate market, the maximum fines should rise, the mayor said, noting many neighbourhoods are feeling development pressures.

City staff say 94 per cent of tree removal requests are approved. However, developers often initially ask to remove a large number of trees and officially ask for a smaller number after city staff inspect the site and show how they can build while maintaining as much of the canopy as possible.