By Lisa Gordon and Grace Golightly
Thank you to everyone who wrote emails and letters, and spoke to council on behalf on Victoria’s trees — we were successful! Mayor and council have just approved a significantly stronger tree protection bylaw.
Starting Nov. 22, owners of properties with trees over 30 cm in diameter at breast height must apply for permission to remove or significantly prune them. This immediately protects many more trees than the old bylaw at 80 cm.
Approximately 84 per cent of the existing tree canopy on private land will now be protected: Nine times more trees, and four times more canopy area, than was formerly protected under the 2005 bylaw.
Other significant changes (described in this staff report) include
- Removing trees to make room for driveways or accessory buildings is now prohibited when there is another location available that would not require tree removal.
- Permit fees increase to $50 (from $30)
- Performance deposits for replacement trees increases to $700 (from $350)
- Where there is no space available on the original site to plant replacement trees, a new fee of $2000 per tree will be required to be paid to the city. This fee will fund the planting and maintenance of a replacement tree elsewhere.
We celebrate this major victory for protecting privately owned trees! It wouldn’t have happened without people like you stepping up and asking for change.
A warm thank-you to our mayor and council for taking this big step, and for recognizing that mature trees contribute greatly to public health and well-being, and help mitigate climate change. Much gratitude also to our Parks department for their vision, and for all their dedicated work in making this change happen successfully.
Early in 2020 there will be a second phase to this project, considering further revisions to the Tree Preservation Bylaw. As the TPB affects only trees on private property, we will also continue to keep an eye on opportunities to improve retention of mature trees on public property. We will keep you posted!