Local residents upset old trees on chopping block
The Brampton Guardian
Saturday May 12 2007
By PAM DOUGLAS, Staff Writer
Greenvisions’ Bruce Haines leans against a bur oak he says is more than 200 years old. It was next in line to be chopped down as Region of Peel contractors cleared a path through a forest in the northeast end of the city Friday to lay two major water mains. The region had full approvals for the work, but stopped and agreed to look for ways to address concerns about the trees.
The Region of Peel has promised to work with local environmentalists in identifying rare or old trees that are in the path of a major water main installation in the northeast end of Brampton.
A group of 15 Greenvisions protestors gathered on Castlemore Road near Goreway Drive at 6 a.m. Friday as Region of Peel contractors chopped and plowed a path through the forest southwest of the intersection.
“They were cutting into a shagbark hickory that’s more than 100 years old when I got here,” said Bruce Haines of Greenvisions. They stopped, but the tree won’t survive, he said.
He said 30 or 40 trees had already been cut down “that shouldn’t have been.”
He pointed to a buroak that is still standing, saying it is more than 200 years old.
“It’s older than our constitution and it was going to be destroyed... What we’re seeing here is nothing short of a crime.”
Haines’ group called Peel police, who issued a cease and desist order on the project pending proof that all approvals are in place.
However, the region does have all approvals needed to do the work, including permits from the City of Brampton and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), according to Simon Hopton, the region’s manager of water and wastewater capital projects.
Reassess property
Those approvals were to be presented to the police Friday, at which time Hopton said he expected the cease and desist order to be lifted.
In the meantime, the region agreed to take a walk around the property with TRCA officials and Greenvisions to find out which trees merit saving, and then decide how, and if, that can be done.
“We’re pleased to work with them and see if we can satisfy their concerns,” Hopton said.
That survey, which would include a City of Brampton representative, is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow.
If there are mature trees on the edges of the easement, the region will try to fence them off and protect them, however, a certain amount of tree cutting is necessary to do the work, Hopton pointed out.
The water mains are needed to support growth in the northeast part of the city, he said.
Area City Councillor Vicky Dhillon was also at the site early in the morning Friday.
The local president of the Sierra Club of Canada was there, too, at 7 a.m. Friday. He said his group is concerned about the “highly environmentally sensitive” area in northwest Brampton.
“I think we have to think very carefully about this sensitive area and stop the buses on this one and save as much as possible,” said Peter Orphus. “I believe it (the Castlemore area) is one area that should be preserved as much as possible.”
Hopton stressed the region followed due process, holding a public meeting and even hand delivering notices door-to-door in the subdivision bordering the forest to the north. However, even though all the approvals are in place for the region to continue the work, Hopton said the region respects the concerns residents have brought forward.
Residents believed approvals were not in place, but the confusion comes from the fact approvals are not in place for another project planned for the same tract of land.
The city’s planned extension of Cottrelle Road also cuts a swath through the same forest right nearby, but approvals for that work have not yet been obtained. A public meeting was held on the Cottrelle roadwork in January and residents who expressed concern about the trees and the potential environmental sensitivity of the land were assured more studies had to be done, including an environmental assessment, before any work was done.
What residents did not know was that the Region of Peel had already done an environmental assessment on the property for the water main work, and had been given the go-ahead from the (TRCA), the city, the Ministry of the Environment, and all other approval agencies.
As part of the process, the TRCA has approved an “extensive” re-planting after the water main work is completed in the fall. Native trees and grasses will be planted, Hopton said.