As city officials look to enhance the greenery in Guelph, residents will be asked to weigh-in on four options to potentially change the rules regarding tree removals on private property.
On Tuesday morning, city council gave its unanimous support to a staff recommendation that it move forward with the plan, with a final recommendation to council expected next year.
There was no discussion ahead of the vote on Tuesday, which came on the heels of approval by the committee of the whole earlier this month.
“I look forward to the community being engaged on this,” Coun. Cathy Downer said during the previous meeting. “Trees are my favourite subject.”
The council-approved options range from maintaining the status quo – permits are required to remove trees of 10 cm diameter or more, provided they’re on a lot of a least 0.2 hectares in size – cutting the lot size requirement in half (to 0.1 hectares), doubling the applicable diameter size but covering all private lots, and maintaining the current requirements in addition to trees with a diameter of 50 cm or more on all private lands.
There are exemptions now, and in the draft revisions, for trees that are sick and present a safety risk, as well as for the removal of invasive species.
Neither the current bylaw or the draft revisions cover new development projects. Those situations are covered by the Planning act, which requires tree preservation planning and includes a requirement for new plantings.
However, the private tree protection bylaw does cover infill and redevelopment projects.
The city’s urban forest includes about three million trees, more than half of which are on private property. A 2019 consultant’s report estimated the city’s tree canopy at 23.3 per cent of the total land area.
Last year city council unanimously approved a plan with 42 action items, including a private tree protection bylaw update, along with improved planting standards for all developments and city infrastructure projects.
The stated goal was to achieve 40 per cent tree canopy coverage by 2031, but the council-approved plan pushes that back to 2070. In order to achieve that target, 3.68 million new trees are needed.
Coun. Dominique O’Rourke was absent from Tuesday’s council session.
