By Pepper Parr
August 19th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
City Council has been close to totally focused on figuring out what has to be in place when the next flooding takes place.
Enrico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry.
The stumps left on the ground look pretty healthy.
While Rico Scalera was stick-handling the questions related to data collection and data analysis, arbourists were cutting down trees on the Centennial Trail.
Staff use the short form ‘Rico’ for Enrico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry.
In May of 2023 the city announced that a draft of the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) was now ready for public review. Residents were invited to review the document and provide feedback of the draft at a public information session and/or through an online survey.
The tree cutting took place in several locations along the Centennial Trail.
Some of the highlights of that draft included:
The UFMP will provide the strategic direction important to managing the urban forest in response to new pressures and challenges related to urban development, climate change, extreme weather and invasive pests.
This plan identifies opportunities on both public and private lands and focuses on five key areas:
Management and Implementation
Community Engagement and Stewardship
Protection and Preservation
Replenishment and Enhancement
Tree Health and Risk Management
Tree cutting appears to be taking place along the edge of a creek.
We have asked the City Communications people for a statement from Enrico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry on how the significant tree cutting that has taken place aligns with the Urban Forest Master Plan.
We learned that the tree cutting is being done by Burlington Hydro as part of Burlington Hydro’s preventive tree maintenance program; an ongoing initiative to help mitigate outages and equipment damage.Hydro adds: As trees mature, the potential danger of tree branches/limbs coming into direct contact with powerlines is increased. Add a severe storm or high winds into the mix, and those same trees/limbs could fall on powerlines, a scenario that contributes to a significant portion of all outages.
The pictures we published earlier this month don’t look like tree “trimming”
What we are seeing doesn’t align all that well with the city plans for an urban tree canopy; something the Mayor mentions frequently.
Mayor Meed Ward sits on the Hydro Board – they paid the fees for the professional designation the Mayor earned at McMaster University. She should have been aware of the Hydro plans. We don’t recall ever hearing anything from the Mayor on this one.
There is more tree trimming to come. The Hydro schedule is set out below.
Please click on the link below. It provides information on responsibilities for the maintenance, trimming, cutting down of trees near hydro lines.
https://stumpsrus.ca/everything-you-need-to-know-about-utility-line-clearing-tree-service/
It now comes to light the work was not carried out by the City but by Burlington Hydro, an arms length corporation of the City. The City does not and should not be involved or interfere in the day-to-day operations of Burlington Hydro.
By all means direct your upset at Burlington Hydro, and note the responsibility for and determination of which trees in proximity to hydro lines should be trimmed or cut down is exclusively Hydro’s
I am as upset as anyone and wonder why there was a need to cut down rather than just trim. Hopefully Hydro &/or Council recognizing the uproar will provide clarify on why this action took place.
Editors note: Barker fails to credit the Gazette for making public the story that Burlington Hydro was responsible for the tree cutting. It’s a 24/7 news cycle these days David.
You are absolutely right and Mr. Barker does not mention that our Mayor sits on the Hydro Board and, therefore, has a level of responsibity in this matter. We all know of the protests when a single hazard tree gets cut down without proper notice to the city. Why he acts as the Mayor and city’s protector no matter the issue is bewildering to say the least.
If anyone has driven on the 403 lately near the 407 intersection, you may have noticed large wooden structures that protect significant hydro lines from falling on the roads. This is a new initiative in response to climate change probably. Perhaps there is some workaround for Burlington Hydro?
If it isn’t Burlington Hydro cutting trees, it is developers, and the City heavily pruning the streetscapes. And then there is Argo cutting down just under 500 mature, decades old trees to build homes on a floodplain. Not sure how the City can ever achieve a tree canopy goal when we don’t make space. Hopefully the zoning project will consider lot sizes and coverages that will enable trees to grow because there isn’t enough City owned property to accommodate the trees and it is only getting worse. I can’t imagine, with the “as of right” ability to build 4 homes on any lot that the issue will ever make progress. So much for the climate emergency.
Seriously? I don’t buy this for a minute. There was no preventative maintenance done for years from my observations while cycling.
I also do not buy what the City is suggesting that there was no consultation and that it was entirely Burlington Hydro doing when essentially Burlington Hydro are accountable to Council.
I have some beach waterfront property to sell you in Nunavut and a couple of dying trees on my property that I cannot remove without facing a significant financial penalty.
The next Municipal election cannot come soon enough.
I’ve been away, in a city with lovely tall trees.
AGREE Ted. Not buying it either and frankly our council could have and should have been speaking out against this destruction. It is not at all what was claimed prior to the culling, nor during, nor after. It’s much much worse. Agree with Daintry also that the trees on our streets are also being cut down with abandon. And I still have not received one word of response from either Councillor Kearns or Nisan to my email asking why this happened.
Why now, and what changed? If thats trimming no tree is safe. And it looks like when it comes to tree canopy, the left hand does not know the right hand is chopping. With respect to Vision to Focus and tree canopy it looks like Focus was (MIA) missing in action.