As I’ve been posting about, Langley City Council is in the process of adopting a new tree protection bylaw. As part of the process, Council gave first and second reading to the new proposed bylaw at Monday’s Langley City Council meeting. The proposed bylaw focuses on the protection of trees on city-owned or managed property, trees during redevelopment, trees in environmentally sensitive areas, and significant trees on all property throughout the City. A significant tree is a tree with a trunk diameter of 75cm or more.
For any trees in the categories noted above, if someone wants to remove a tree, they will need to obtain a tree permit. A tree permit would only be issued for one of the following conditions:
- The tree is dead, or more than 50% of the crown is dead
- The tree is causing damage to a building or other damage that can only be mitigated by removal
- An arborist noted that a tree is at high or extreme risk of failure
- It must be removed to comply with another City bylaw
In BC, a tree protection bylaw cannot limit someone building to the permitted density on a property, so the tree protection bylaw would not apply to trees in the footprint of a proposed building. The proposed bylaw also specifies how to protect trees during redevelopment.
The bylaw allows the removal of a tree that is in imminent danger of falling and injuring persons or property without a permit, though evidence of an emergency must be submitted to the City after the fact.
If a protected tree is removed, the proposed new bylaw requires it to be replaced with 2 to 6 new trees, depending on the context.
If someone removes a protected tree without a permit or in violation of the bylaw, they can be fined $3,000 per tree.
As I’ve noted previously, the City is hosting an open house on the proposed tree protection bylaw tomorrow from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
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