Township council will not be moving forward with an interim tree protection bylaw.
A motion by Coun. Petrina Arnason to apply the 2014 interim tree cutting bylaw to the entire Township was defeated on Monday night (April 9), with Mayor Jack Froese and Councillors Blair Whitmarsh, Angie Quaale and Michelle Sparrow opposed. Coun. Charlie Fox was absent.
The interim bylaw was originally in place in the Brookswood-Fernridge area, and banned cutting of more than eight trees or 20 per cent of the trees on a property, whichever was less. That bylaw was repealed when the new Brookswood-Fernridge Community Plan and subsequent tree bylaw were passed in the fall of 2017.
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At council鈥檚 last meeting on March 19, a decision was made to discuss a municipal-wide tree bylaw after the election on Oct. 20. Arnason said the intent of her motion was to prevent preemptive cutting of trees, before these discussions begin.
鈥淭his is what I consider to be a turn key solution, because it鈥檚 something that we already had in place. It鈥檚 already drafted, it鈥檚 been vetted, and actually was in place for quite a long time. So I think that it鈥檚 really shown itself to be durable and effective,鈥� Arnason said.
鈥淚n the duration while we鈥檙e talking about this (tree bylaw), this is really the time that we need to protect the trees that we hope to protect in the longer term with the bylaw for the entire Township, should it go forward.鈥�
Those who were against the interim bylaw believed more discussion was needed.
鈥淚 think that for the people we鈥檝e heard from who would like to have a tree bylaw, we鈥檝e also heard from people who wouldn鈥檛 like to have a tree bylaw. So I think this is going to require some broad community consultation and not us making up bylaws on the fly around this,鈥� said Quaale.
鈥淛ust setting aside and deciding right now a tree bylaw that spans our whole community and stops people from removing a couple of trees to put in a shed, or because they鈥檝e got a swing set they want to put up, I think has a lot of repercussions that we鈥檙e not totally thinking of at this moment,鈥� said Sparrow. 鈥淲e need to have a full discussion on it and not just do it on the fly like this.鈥�
Whitmarsh shared similar sentiments.
鈥淐ouncil made a decision three or four weeks ago that a tree bylaw was important, that we need to have a good discussion about it and it was decided to make it part of council priorities 鈥� the next council priorities session 鈥� for the council that鈥檚 coming in. That was a pretty strong statement that a tree bylaw is something we should really consider and really take our time to put in place,鈥� he said.
鈥淎nd so I鈥檓 not sure why in three weeks, (after making) a decision that seemed so good and so positive, now we have to come up with something quickly, and we have to rush it in because that鈥檚 not going to be satisfactory.鈥�
鈥淚t needs a more fullsome discussion,鈥� Froese added. 鈥淎nd an interim bylaw, we don鈥檛 know how long it will be interim, so I won鈥檛 be supporting it either.鈥�
However, those who were in favour thought the interim bylaw couldn鈥檛 be enacted fast enough.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been through this before, and what we had to do with Brookswood was get it done very quickly because as soon as you start talking about it, chainsaws start revving up, people start getting quite concerned,鈥� said Coun. Bob Long.
鈥淚鈥檓 just amazed at the number of trees that have been coming down in the last little while throughout the Township, and I applaud Councillor Arnason鈥檚 idea of bringing this forward,鈥� Coun. Kim Richter said.
鈥淚 think we have to close down what鈥檚 happening, calm people down. There鈥檚 no need to cut every single tree down that鈥檚 on your property in order to get away from a bylaw. That鈥檚 not right, it鈥檚 not thinking long term and it鈥檚 not thinking about the future of our community.鈥�
miranda@langleytimes.com
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