New tree bylaws on the way to council chambers

StThomasTimesJournal.com
Sept. 7, 2017
Laura Broadley

The first ever St. Thomas tree bylaws have been written and discussed at the city’s reference committee meeting. But before they’re set in stone council gets to have its say.

Ross Tucker, director of parks, recreation and property management, said this is the first time the city has had tree bylaws.

“We’ve never had a municipal tree bylaw until this point. We’re introducing a municipal tree bylaw and a private tree bylaw,” Tucker said.

About seven years ago the city of St. Thomas hired an arborist to be on staff.

“We said at the time that we would create some bylaws to protect our urban environment. So, it’s for the preservation and protection of the trees on municipal streets, parks,” Tucker said.

The private tree bylaw is meant to protect and preserve the urban forest in the city from people taking down trees.

Residents who want to cut down a tree on their property have to go through a permit system.

“You can apply for a permit to have it taken down,” Tucker said. “We’ll work with the homeowner once we’ve received the permit to hopefully save the tree. If not, if it’s a dead or diseased tree we’ll have it removed.”

Tucker said the city is also looking at getting trees replanted. Instead of having people just cut down trees, the city is looking to get some replacement trees.

“Bearing in mind that part of the spur of this is the emerald ash borer, and the loss of the urban forest that we’ve had happen,” Tucker said.

St. Thomas has about 15 per cent coverage of trees, but Tucker said he would be happy at 20 per cent.

Residents are not allowed to cut down trees on public property.

“That’s one of the things we’ve had happen that from a municipal standpoint, homeowners have took it upon themselves to cut down trees in front of their house that are actually owned by the municipality. So, we don’t want that to happen anymore,” Tucker said.

Tucker said there has to be bylaws in place that have fines attached in order for there to be penalties for cutting down a municipal tree.

“That’s our big concern. We don’t like people pruning or taking down our trees. It should be us doing it, it’s a municipal tree,” Tucker said.

As for private property, Tucker said the bylaws aren’t meant to make it more difficult for residents to cut down trees on their property.

“The other day a heritage tree was being taken down in the backyard of the person’s house in St. Thomas. The reason they were taking it down is they wanted more light. That’s a 100-year-old tree,” Tucker said.