Community News

ARE WE LOSING OUR TREES?

BIG YARDS AND NEIGHBOURHOOD WOODLOTS UNDER PRESSURE

KIM ZARZOUR kzarzour@yrmg.com

There are times when Deb Thompson walks through her Oak Ridges neighbourhood, when soft winds make the towering pines hum, that her heart fills with joy.

There are other times when she feels a gaping hole overhead — and in her heart.

That's when she walks past developers' bulldozer scars, where gaping sky replaces the canopy of swaying boughs, where the trees are silent because the trees are gone.

Thompson lives in a community in north Richmond Hill that has long revolved around the woods. Residents, drawn to soaring trees, moved here and signed

covenants to protect them.

Now they are watching the greenery disappear.

Many say it's an example of what's happening across the region and fear the harm to environment and physical and mental health.

Others say it's an unavoidable cost of growth and may even be good for the environment.

For the last few years, longtime residents watched the large, singlehome lots south of Bloomington sell to investors, older, homes demolished to make way for larger ones or subdivided, and their beloved trees chopped, chipped and carted away.

"There's no justification for this," says resident Howard Doughty. "These aren't going to be affordable homes and there's ample land already scheduled for development."

Neighbour Nancy Stephens agrees.

"Why should they get to come here and strip the trees and cram homes in? There are thousands of acres in Ontario that don't have a tree on it. Why buy in an established, mature forested neighbourhood?"

"The only explanation I can think of is developers make more money on bigger homes," adds Suzanne Payne, who wonders if it's a symptom of changing times: fewer people engaged in communities, treating property purchases as investment.

Neighbourhood barbecues are gone, so too are the smaller homes hidden behind trees, deforested lots becoming construction yards and once-quiet roads filled with contractors, trucks and dust.

In some cases, neighbours believe the trees are cut illegally.

This was the case last month when they demanded the city put a stopwork order on tree-clearing at 52 Beaufort Hills.

City spokesperson Lynn Chan did not say whether the landowner was fined, but says staff is working to "rectify any infractions to the Tree Preservation bylaw."

Chan said developers, seeking to build on sites with existing trees, must prepare an Arborist Report and Tree Inventory and Protection Plan.

The City determines which trees require protection based on species, size, condition, location and function within the ecological system.

Transgressors are liable to fines starting at $300 up to and exceeding $100,000.

"Nobody, including myself, wants to see trees disappear," said Oak Ridges councillor Carol Davidson. "People want the green space, people want protection against hot summers and places for the animals to go."

And yet, with up to three units allowed per lot, Davidson worries "backyards will be stripped everywhere."

Richmond Hill Mayor David West agrees treecutting can feel devastating, "but it's a balancing act. We can say no to an application, but if that's the only reason, we would get slaughtered at the Ontario Land Tribunal."

Phil Pothen sees it differently.

"These low-density neighbourhoods are Ontario's biggest environmental problem," the Ontario Environment Program Manager for Environmental Defence says. "They build in CO2 emissions, push sprawl into actual wildlife habitat and we desperately need more homes."

While trees should not be removed to expand existing single-family homes — it squanders trees and construction labour and materials needed to build more homes — Pothen says trees should not stand in the way of denser development.

"Every home that gets added to an existing neighbourhood is a win for the environment," he says. "It's saving trees and farmland in places that are more environmentally sensitive."

Residents fighting back in Beaufort Hills say neighbourhoods blessed with older trees are worth protecting.

They suggest ways to encourage preservation: public education, infill relegated to areas with transit and jobs, requirements for builders to preserve or plan around existing trees.

"Many of us bought here because of the beauty of the area," says Alana Kanapka. "This isn't helping with housing. It's destroying a beautiful community for profit."

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Reporter Kim Zarzour delves into why older trees are being destroyed and what can be done about it

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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