Timberrrrrrr! I have an old and large Manitoba maple tree in my backyard that is very close to my back fence and that is leaning over my garden shed and my neighbour’s garage at a 45 degree angle. I want that tree taken down before I put the garden in this spring, so I need start the process. Last night I began to research ways and means. This is when the fun began.
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Trees above a certain size are protected in Toronto. The maple tree in the backyard is above that size, and so I need a permit to cut it down. You can get an exemption to having to apply for a permit if the tree is dead, or structurally compromised. I thought, well, the tree is leaning over at a 45 degree angle, which surely qualifies as structurally compromised. To get an exemption I need to send the relevant city office an arborist report and photo of the tree. So I called an arborist this morning to arrange for an assessment. He promptly told me that since my tree is sound and healthy I have no chance of getting an exemption and must get a $350 permit and will probably also have to plant two or three trees in the tree’s place. I protested that my neighbour on the left has complained to me that the tree is causing issues with his garage and that it’s also so close to the property line that the roots are probably causing problems with the foundations of the house behind mine. There’s no room for two or three new trees! I was thinking about putting in one dwarf fruit tree, but that’s all. And what if the tree fell on my neighbour’s garage? The arborist said none of that was considered grounds for an exemption. And he blithely assured me that as long as my tree was healthy if it fell on my neighbour’s garage I wouldn’t be considered liable. He suggested that I ask my neighbour if he wanted to pay for the permit, the tree removal, and the new trees.
Arghhh. But the arborist is coming out to my place today to look at the tree and will leave a report in my mailbox. He said we could prune the tree back and that there are “a few other options”.
What a pain in the @ss. Certainly I can respect that city planners want to preserve Toronto’s tree canopy, but this is ridiculous. It’s a shameless cash grab and the rules are unreasonable. That tree never should have been allowed to grow to that size in that place and at that angle in the first place, and now I have to pay the city for the right to take it down. I went to a friend and co-worker of mine, who sits next to me, to vent a little after getting off the phone. She was laughing because she’d overheard me on the phone and, being a Toronto homeowner herself, had figured out what the issue when she caught the words “tree” and “45 degree angle” and “fascism”.