Mayor George Fontaine isn’t beating around the bush when it comes to plants and trees that illegally encroach onto public property.
He issued a public reminder last week that residents are required to trim their vegetation clear of sidewalks and streets.
“You’ve got a public forum right now and it’s being made very clear that people are responsible for that,” Fontaine said at the July 22 council meeting. “So that’s the first step. And then if we have to follow through [with other steps], we’ll do it.”
Fontaine was addressing concerns from local resident Sara Lawrence, who has compiled a list of locations where she cannot proceed down the sidewalk with her stroller.
Lawrence told council that one spot is so bad that she can’t even tell whether there is a house on the lot behind all of the vegetation and foliage.
Coun. Colleen McKee, herself a regular walker, said she shares Lawrence’s concerns, especially since McKee is allergic to caragana bushes.
“And the way that the caragana bushes are growing over the sidewalks, there should be many letters sent [to the owners] daily,” McKee said.
Fontaine said there is already a bylaw in place requiring trees and other plants be properly cropped.
Council will now look at sending warning letters to offending property owners. Those who do not comply could see their vegetation removed by the city, with the cost charged back to the owner.
“You’d be better off to cut your own than have us do it, because having us do it comes at a cost,” Fontaine said.
This isn’t the first time the city has addressed discontent over vegetation that overhangs onto municipal land.
In 2003, for instance, the city sent letters to 132 homeowners advising them that they were in violation of the applicable bylaw.
At that time, the city had fielded 20 to 30 complaints about overhanging trees and branches in the span of a year.
A 1999 city bylaw states that “no person shall plant or place to be planted or placed, any tree, shrub, hedge or other object that will, or any part thereof that will, encroach upon or overhang a municipal road.”
Also discussed at last week’s council meeting was the city bylaw against the storage of unlicensed vehicles.
Coun. Ken Pawlachuk said two derelict vehicles sat behind his house this past winter.
When he approached the city’s bylaw enforcement officer, Ted Elliott, Pawlachuk said the vehicles were gone by the next morning.
“If [the vehicles] are not licensed for storage, they’re derelict [and] we’ll move them away,” said Pawlachuk.
