Edmonton city councillors consider new bylaw to protect trees on private land
Edmonton aims to add 2 million trees to its total urban canopy
The City of Edmonton is considering ways to protect trees on private land, as it works toward the goal of adding two million more trees to its urban forest.
At a meeting Tuesday, council's urban planning committee discussed creating a bylaw to regulate the removal of trees on private property.
The city considers the urban forest to be a "significant municipal asset," which provides "many environmental, ecological, economic and social benefits to Edmontonians," according to a committee report. An estimated 380,000 trees exist on boulevards and in open spaces.
Coun. Aaron Paquette put forward a motion that administration outline ways the city can achieve its goal of adding two million trees, including the option of drafting a private property tree bylaw.
The committee heard from several people who support the idea of a private tree bylaw and others who oppose the idea.
Kristine Kowalchuk with the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition pressed councillors to adopt a new bylaw to protect trees, which she said would have numerous benefits.
"Trees do critical work in mitigating climate change, cleaning the air, cooling the city, helping to prevent both drought and flooding," Kowalchuk said. "They also contribute greatly to Edmontonians' physical and mental health and are essential to the beauty of our city."
Don Tolsma, a director with the Canadian Home Builders Association, said he doesn't think the city should introduce a bylaw to regulate tree removal.
Also the president of Timber Haus Developments, Tolsma said they try to preserve mature trees as much as possible, which are highly valued by most of their clients, but he would oppose a bylaw that affects trees on private land.
It's not feasible to save all of them, he argued, for a variety of reasons: trees may restrict the development area or impede access to the building, or the tree could be unhealthy and needs to be removed.
Competing goals
Requiring permits or limiting the ability to remove trees will directly impede infill and new housing growth, Tolsma argued.
"If densification is the way to go, which is the city plan, then you are going to lose more trees," Tolsma said. "So we need to keep planting more trees."
Kowalchuk suggested the city also consider an alternative approach to density like focusing on public transportation and repurposing parking lots.
"Densification cannot be a single-minded goal of fitting in more people," Kowalchuk said.
Paquette suggested the city needs more time to balance the goals of increasing density and protecting trees.
"There is a tension here in that some of the redevelopment we need for density, in order to further our climate goals, also means that some of these trees on private land don't lend themselves to that redevelopment," Paquette said.
City managers are expected to report back to the urban planning committee in early 2023.
Bylaw options
Last August, city council passed the Public Tree Bylaw but the new permit process for tree protection and preservation takes effect Wednesday.
The current bylaw says that no work can be done within five metres of the trunk of a boulevard or open space tree or within 10 metres of a natural boundary unless someone has a permit, permission or is doing the work according to an approved tree protection plan.
Drafting a new bylaw and developing a new permitting system for removing trees from private land would require funding, the report says.
Several municipalities in Canada, including Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto, Surrey, and Oakville, have private tree bylaws with mixed results.
"All municipalities cited difficulties with the volume of enforcement associated with regulating private trees by way of permit," the report says.
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