By Greg Higgins

Residents fill seats at council to save neighbourhood trees

Mar 28, 2017 | 12:00 PM

At last night’s council meeting in North Battleford, residents of the 1300 and 1400 blocks of 97th St. showed up to voice their concerns about tree removal affecting the aesthetics of the neighborhood and property values in upcoming road construction plans.

In an upcoming Underground Pipes and Asphalt Replacement (UPAR) project, 11 trees were slated to be removed on the 1300 block of 97th St. and another five on the 1400 block. A group of residents filled the seats at council, led by William Chappell and Brenda Korchinski, to voice their concerns.

“In many ways the trees define the neighbourhood,” Chappell said. “The removal of these trees would have a devastating impact on the character of our neighbourhood.”

Chappell said the trees are the home to many song birds so removing them would be effecting the habitats of while life in the area. He added property values could also be affected. Korchinski added there have been other UPAR projects where the number of removed trees was much less. 

The group had a booklet prepared for council to read which included an appraisal of the trees. The appraisals were based on species and age amongst other things. The appraisal came to $51,212 for trees slated for removal and are too big to be replanted in the same spot. It suggested an alternative digging and line replacement method be used for these trees.

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City administration said many of the trees had been planted directly above water lines and it would need at least a 2.5 meter clearance from the line in order not to be damaged. An alternative method wasn’t an option in those cases. After further research city manager, Jim Puffalt, said six of the 11 trees on the 1300 block could be saves and three of the five on the 1400 block could also be salvaged.

The city does have a rule in place where every tree removed has to be replaced somewhere in the city but not necessarily in the same area it was removed. Administration added it tries to replace trees in the same area when it can.

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.