Editor: Brian Cameron’s April 13 letter “Short-sighted decision by Township council,” appears like political campaign rhetoric, since he twice names and bashes the councillors that his side disagrees with.
In Charlie Fox’s council meeting absence, Coun. Petrina Arnason tried to recycle an old repealed temporary tree bylaw specifically tailored for Brookswood-Fernridge on the entire Township without any public consultation or input, but it didn’t work.
In spite of this election year (silly season) there were still enough reasonable people on council to muster a tie vote, which defeated the motion.
Just because another municipality has a bad punitive bylaw, doesn’t mean we have to copy it.
Here is the other side of the story.
Most people who want punishing tree bylaws are those who don’t have private property trees to take care of and the heavy expense associated.
It appears this hyped creation of massive tree removal is emanating mostly from Willoughby development, which is in high density transition. In new developments, there have been as many new planted trees as space will accommodate.
In the 45 years we have lived in Langley Township, I haven’t seen a concerning loss of trees. A few isolated incidences does not a crisis make.
I don’t see a problem in Aldergrove, Fort Langley, Walnut Grove, Murrayville, Brookswood or places in between (ALR farmland is exempt).
The big conifers in Brookswood have some serious spreading root disease problems, enough of a worry without adding extra costs to homeowners..
Traditionally in Langley’s history, most people like their trees, plant new ones and remove old ones for valid reasons. With tree bylaws, those same trees will likely be removed but only with greater hassle, frustration and expense. Or they will go unattended because of costs and become dangerously subject to blow-down.
We live in a rain forest where the foliage canopy is growing so fast that we have to hire more municipal tree maintenance workers.
More government bylaws leads to higher taxes. Creation of a tree bylaw, with public consultation costs alone, will jack up our taxes.
Apart from the homeowners’ costs for permits, hiring arborists, surveyors and tree service contractors, there are more municipal taxpayer costs associated.
Policing is labour intensive — bylaw administration staff, hiring bylaw enforcement officers, union wages/benefits/pension, supervision, uniforms, office space, telephones, inspection vehicles, tools, lawyers, etc.
Coun. Arnason wants to create a ‘tree inventory registry’ to record and track every tree in the Township. This is a completely micro-managed, la-la land, make-work tax dollar sinkhole.
It’s bad enough that we are taking huge tax hits, piling on from other levels of governments, (including) gas, fuel taxes etc. Overtaxed homeownership is in peril.
Is nobody campaigning on ‘affordability?’ Does nobody care about our young people? And you wonder why the homeless population is expanding.
I suggest (council tries) convincing us that (they) can manage our tax dollars more prudently between now and voting day.
Roland Seguin
Fernridge