(Image credit: Keiran Rankin).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: City’s tree-protection bylaw needs to start protecting trees

Jun 8, 2022 | 4:41 AM

ONE CAN’T BLAME developers for sticking to the rules. Question is, of course, whether those rules are always good enough.

City council received a committee report yesterday on its urban forest strategy.

The goal is to increase and protect the tree canopy on City-owned lands. Homeowners can get $50 tree coupons. Damaging trees on City property can be expensive — a Juniper Ridge resident was fined $27,000 last year for pollarding City trees to improve his view.

A new page on the City website, called the Kamloops Urban Tree Tour, lists significant trees around town.

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But what about major private developments, where trees are routinely removed?

The committee report notes that the City tries to ensure trees felled during development are replaced in duplicate. But while the City has a tree bylaw it’s as much about how to cut down trees as how to save them. A project doesn’t need a tree permit unless it’s over two hectares.

Coincidentally, concerns have been raised in the past few days about trees versus ‘progress.’

Resident Shannon McArthur wrote to the Armchair Mayor about a big old maple tree near the Halston Bridge she fears is about to be lost to development. The City has told her there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Another resident, Keiran Rankin, wrote about the impending loss of an important grove of mature trees on Royal Avenue for the recently approved Thompson Landing apartment complex.

He says 100-year-old trees can’t just be replaced by new ornamentals. All over the city, he wrote, big trees are falling to development. And he’s right. Rose Hill, Pineview Valley, Southgate and other neighbourhoods have been in the news over the years for the chain sawing of trees.

Both McArthur and Rankin say the City bylaw needs teeth to force the retention of mature trees.

They make a compelling point. Trees give us life. Protecting them shouldn’t be done only when it’s convenient.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.