Wellington North’s trees have more protection with new bylaws

WELLINGTON NORTH – Trees owned by the municipality here now have increased protections. 

Council rescinded its old tree removal policy on Aug. 10 and approved two new policies governing municipal tree removal, inspection and maintenance. 

It also entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Mount Forest Green Team to formalize its partnership with the community group. 

The updates offer a “more structured approach to the inspection, maintenance, reporting, assessment and removal of township-owned trees,” states a township report.

“This work supports the township’s ongoing efforts to manage municipal trees in a manner that balances public safety, environmental stewardship, operational capacity, community interest and responsible asset management,” it continues. 

“The Municipal Tree Inspection and Maintenance Policy establishes minimum standards for inspecting and maintaining the township’s urban municipal trees, using a risk-based approach [and] the Municipal Tree Removal Policy establishes a consistent framework for the assessment and removal of township-owned trees.”

The memorandum of understanding “provides structure for information sharing, community engagement and consultation opportunities while recognizing the township’s responsibility for public safety and decision making related to township-owned trees.” 

Councillor Sherry Burke called the updates “very timely, as this spring and summer seems to have been quite busy with tree requests and concerns within the community.”

“I was very pleased to see the report,” added councillor Penny Renken. “I think it’s a great step forward to preserve our trees, and especially in conjunction with the Green Team.”

She asked about the removal criteria listed in the bylaw, which includes approved construction where no reasonable alternative exists.  

“If there’s going to be building or construction on a property and you have trees that are on the municipal portion of the land, near the road, is there any way that the contractors need to be aware of trees on the municipal property and try to preserve them?” 

CAO Brooke Lambert said while that section of the bylaw is referring to infrastructure construction, not buildings, “I think that is what we are trying to indicate through these policies ... is that we are going to try to preserve those trees wherever possible.”  

Councillor Steve McCabe said the Green Team does a great job in Mount Forest and he called the group’s leader, Daphne Rappard, “quite a trooper when it comes to this, which is fantastic.” 

He asked whether the partnership with the Mount Forest Green Team, a chapter of Tree Trust, expanded across the municipality.

Lambert said while the team focuses on Mount Forest, “they have been really helpful in helping us develop resources across the township, so these policies ... reflect that approach.” 

Lambert said staff have incorporated community feedback on all municipal infrastructure projects, and “the intent is certainly to retain and  preserve the tree canopy where we can and apply different strategies for protecting those trees through our projects. 

“And then we can look at certain impacts and sometimes we can make those changes. 

“If the community is concerned they are certainly welcome to provide any of that feedback throughout the process,” Lambert noted. 

“Sometimes we aren’t able to accommodate all of the requests, but we are definitely making that effort to do so when we can.”