At Committee of Council on July 8th, Council gave three readings to amendments to the Tree Bylaw. Various amendments are proposed to enhance clarity and strengthen the language of the Tree Bylaw: 

• Amend the Tree Protection Fencing requirement to include all trees on the subject property instead of any tree within 4 metres of demolition or construction activity; 
• Update the bylaw to specify that the permit holder is still required to plant the required amount of replacement trees after being penalized for failure to plant within the required timeline; 
• Remove the tree replacement clause, allowing the exclusion of tree replacement requirements if another tree is within 5 metres. This will remove the loophole for tree replacement and reduction of overall canopy coverage loss as part of the tree-cutting permit process; 
• Include location restrictions for tree replacement plans. These restrictions include minimum distance from property lines, underground or overhead services, existing trees, and hardscape/buildings. This leads to a better-established tree and increased probability of long-term tree retention; and 
• Increase tree replacement requirements for Significant and Heritage status trees (5 and 8 replacement trees respectively). This will help limit the reduction in canopy coverage loss from non-permitted removal, as well as increase cash-in-lieu payments for the City Tree Reserve Fund in cases where tree replacement requirements cannot be met due to property size restrictions. 

More information can be found in the full report by City staff.