Interim Tree By-Law Delegation - March 2018

Michelle Connerty

20808 43 Avenue

Langley, British Columbia

V3A 7Z6

michelle@connerty.ca

604-341-0211

Good Evening, my name is Michelle Connerty and I live in the Brookswood

area. Mayor, Council and Staff, thank you very much for allowing me this

time to speak to you tonight.

My family moved to Brookswood in 2011 and I became aware of and involved

in local politics in 2014 when the “Leave Brookswood Alone” campaign -

headed by Anna R and David Chambers, came to my attention. At the time, I

did not pay attention to the details around the Interim Tree Clear Cutting

Bylaw No. 5071 for Brookswood/Fernridge when it was passed in 2014,

however when I heard about it I believed it was the right thing to do.

Trees are not political, they are a viable and necessary part of our

environment. To politicize this issue hurts everyone.

Many of you know I posted on Facebook last week about trees coming down

on a lot at 40th Avenue at 204th in Brookswood. The Owner of this lot has

applied to build a new house. On that lot there were ten large trees that were

cut down, I would call them “significant”, eight of which were on the

perimeter of the property and two were in the centre.

I called the Township of Langley municipal hall and asked to speak to the Tree

Bylaw department to discuss whether or not this lot was covered by the

Brookswood-Fernridge Tree Protection Bylaw 2017 No. 5301 passed in

November 2017. Tree Bylaw told me that the Bylaw only covered the

“undeveloped” areas of Brookswood/Fernridge and that this lot was in the

“Developed” area. I thanked them for their time. I then received a call back

from the Township Engineering Director - Ramin Sefi who confirmed the lot

was not included in the Bylaw, that they Bylaw only covered the

“undeveloped” areas of the Brookswood/Fernridge neighbourhood. I thanked

Mr. Sefi for his time as well and at this point I assumed that Bylaw No. 5071

covered the same areas as the permanent Bylaw passed in November 2017.

I then had a third call from a Bylaw Officer that informed me of the same

thing, this lot is not covered by the new Bylaw, however prior to the new

Bylaw being passed (November 2017) it would have been included. I heard

what they said but did not fully comprehend what they had told me.

I thought about things for a couple of days and called back for clarification.

Sure enough, the Temporary Tree Cutting Bylaw No. 5071 covered the ENTIRE

Brookswood/Fernridge area - DEVELOPED and UNDEVELOPED and the final

Bylaw only covers the UNDEVELOPED areas!! Developers and residents can

apply for a permit to clear-cut a developed Brookswood property, an arborist

report is not required, a landscape plan is not required... it's all completely

legal.

I as a citizen and a taxpayer in the Township of Langley I am thoroughly

confused as to why an Interim Bylaw would have more coverage and “teeth”

than a final Bylaw? To not openly acknowledge or display this discrepancy

shows complicity and is inherently devious. And it again begs the question:

Why split the Brookswood/Fernridge area into two distinct areas (developed

and undeveloped) if not for this type of action?

I hereby request that this Mayor and Council put an immediate emergency

Interim Tree Clear Cutting Bylaw in place covering the entire Township of

Langley, until such time as a comprehensive Township-wide Tree Bylaw can

be formed and implemented to protect our tree canopies and the wildlife that

exists in those canopies - as we are now approaching “nesting season”.

The Langley Times put up a web poll after Hanae Sakurai’s Delegation

presentation two weeks ago requesting a comprehensive Tree Bylaw in the

Township of Langley. Although the results are by no means statistically

correct due to the methods used to collect the information, they are very

telling - 79% of the respondents answered yes to the following question:

Would you support the creation of a Township-wide tree protection

bylaw?

Again, 79% of respondents answered yes!

Councilor Fox wants to put off any action on this issue until 2019!! This is

simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH or soon enough!!

Just for reference the following municipalities DO have a tree protection

bylaw in place:

Village of Anmore

Village of Lion’s Bay

Village of Belcarra

City of Burnaby

City of Coquitlam

City of Delta

City of Maple Ridge

City of New Westminster

City of Port Coquitlam

City of Port Moody

City of Richmond

City of Surrey

City of Vancouver

City of White Rock

City of Abbotsford

District of North Vancouver

And the following do NOT have a tree protection bylaw (but may have

protection measures in place for development):

District of West Vancouver (voting April 20 on interim tree protection bylaw,

presumably to protect while generating a fair and comprehensive bylaw that

applies to their specific ecology and needs.)

Bowen Island Municipality

Electoral Area A

Tsawwassen First Nation

City of Langley

City of North Vancouver

City of Pitt Meadows

TOWNSHIP OF LANGLEY

Clearly the work has been done by other municipalities - we are not

reinventing the wheel here. Let’s get to work and implement a Tree

Protection Bylaw that the majority of our Community can agree and work

with.

This cannot wait - the damage cannot be undone. I, as a tax paying citizen of

Langley, demand that this Mayor and Council do something immediately on

an emergency basis to prevent thousands of trees that cannot and probably

will not be replaced, from coming down in the next few months.

And just to be clear, by no means do I mean to “hold captive” land owners. I

understand that significant trees may need to come down to build new

homes and trees do get in the way. In these cases where significant trees

are required to come down, this should happen outside of nesting season

and I would like to see proper replacement trees planted when the

construction is complete.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.