City axes Christmas tree sales at west-end lot over bylaw dispute

The city has axed the sale of Christmas trees at a west-end lot that has deep roots in the community after a bylaw complaint was lodged last month about the seasonal operation.

Sweetpea's Christmas Tree Lot has been stocking the holiday fixture in Toronto's Roncesvalles Village neighbourhood for nearly a decade, but says it was initially forced to clear its remaining 150 trees from the lot by Wednesday — five days before Christmas — to comply with the city's zoning laws.

Sara Jameson, owner of Sweetpea's flower shot, which runs the nearby Christmas tree lot, told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that the director of investigations at the city's municipal licensing and standards division informed her this afternoon that the deadline to comply has been extended until next week. 

"This is my entire life ... To have the whole thing shut down it's so hard, it's just too much," said Jameson.

The local business first opened the seasonal space in 2010 to rekindle the magic of buying a local Christmas tree for families. This year, however, Sweetpea's is using a new lot space to be closer to their parent business — and it's one that isn't zoned for commercial use, according to the city. ​

Tammy Robbinson, a spokesperson for the city's municipal licensing and standards division, says the city first inspected the lot on Nov. 17 and found that it is a residential space and is "not zoned" to sell Christmas trees. She added that Sweetpea's also illegally "put a sign in the middle of the sidewalk" to advertise its product.  

Robbinson said in an email to CBC Toronto that Sweetpea's was given time to comply with the bylaw which included removing the sign on the sidewalk for the Christmas Tree lot. 

"We would not direct the owner to have all the trees removed immediately, we would give them time to comply with the zoning bylaw," she wrote. 

In the meantime, Sweetpea's said it had been told that they would need to vacate by Wednesday night or face fines and were scrambling to sell off its remaining trees at a fraction of their original price. 

"We'd rather see them go to a home and be enjoyed rather than go to a garbage bin and be hauled off to the city dump," said Jameson, adding they had complied with all the city's requests.  

We'd rather see them go to a home and be enjoyed rather than go to a garbage bin.- Sara Jameson, owner

"If we don't sell them off we get to put a disposal bin on the property and everything gets thrown out so all the trees will be hauled into city waste opposed to being enjoyed and used."

The community is now rallying support for Sweetpea's by petitioning the city to rezone the lot for commercial use. 

"I shared it and I know a bunch of other people shared it so hopefully it'll go around the community and they'll be able to share as many trees as they can," Lindsay Swanson told CBC Toronto. 

Sweetpea's lot manager Jonathan Howcroft has been sending families home with their Christmas trees from the start. He explains "the community involvement, the smell of the trees, the getting to make people smile" is what keeps bringing him back every year.  

"People come in here with their families and we really help kick off the holidays for everybody," he told CBC Toronto.