More trees on Metrotown’s Wilson Avenue to be cut down due to development

Another 12 trees on Wilson Avenue in the Metrotown area are slated for removal due to development in the area.

The City of Burnaby told the Beacon in an emailed statement that the removals are a result of “conflict” with infrastructure, and are expected to take place later this month.

The city said tree removals are a last resort and are only approved when there is no possible alternative resolution to conflicts with mandatory infrastructure works.

“On Wilson Avenue, overhead third party utility lines (used by BC Hydro, Telus, Shaw, and Fortis) are being moved underground in order to service the development currently underway at 5987 Wilson Avenue,” a spokesperson said in an email.

“In this case, our team consulted with professionals and conducted site specific assessments, but ultimately it was determined that the only safe option was to remove the trees and replace them at a later date, as per the city’s tree replacement bylaw.”

The city said it’s charged the developer for the cost of the tree removal, and for planting two new trees to replace every one removed. The tree replacement bylaw would therefore place each tree that’s being removed at between 30.5-61cm wide.

The development at 5987 Wilson Ave., Central Park House, is owned by Bosa Properties. Construction on the 41-storey building is expected to wrap up by 2025.

The latest round of tree removals comes just weeks after 10 cherry trees on Wilson Avenue were also cut down due to construction next door to Central Park House, at NOVU by Anthem Properties, 6075 Wilson Ave.

Five trees were cut down there in November to make way for required upgrades to the public frontage along the project, while five more across the street were cut down to accommodate temporary power poles to supply power to the development.

The trees were some of the remnants of the early 20th century homes which once lined the street, later to be replaced by low-rise rental buildings in the 1960s—and many of which are now being replaced by high-rises.

While the city says maintaining and enhancing Burnaby’s urban tree canopy is a priority, urban forestry experts say that tree replacement programs aren’t necessarily the only answer.

“It’s better than nothing. And it’s good to at least try and do some tree replacements, but … as expected, trees take a long time to reach their mature size,” UBC forestry assistant professor Lorien Nesbitt told the Beacon last year.

“So cutting down a mature tree that’s been established for decades and replacing it with one or two smaller trees isn’t going to solve any of our sort of climate adaptation problems now—and it may be inadequate for the future as well, because those trees will take several decades to grow.”

Nesbitt noted that up to 50% of trees die within 10 years of being planted—and with adverse climate events becoming more and more common, young and more vulnerable trees are coming under more stress.

She posited that a better way for municipalities to properly protect existing and established trees is to design buildings so that they’re not in conflict with vegetation and trees, and not the other way around.

“I think that we have a culture where we assume that trees are disposable and replaceable. And they’re not, to my mind, the same as other types of infrastructure. They’re living beings that take care to grow and survive,” she said.

“And so just removing a mature tree that has potentially been in place for 50 to 100 years and replacing it with a couple of young trees that may or may not survive is not an adequate approach. If we were really to prioritize trees, we would prioritize maintaining existing trees, and then planting new trees—managing them in a way where we know they’ll survive and thrive.”

Coun. Alison Gu, who served on Burnaby’s environment committee in the last council term, agreed that there are gaps in the existing tree replacement bylaw (which was last updated in 2014).

However, she said that to be most effective, the bylaw would need to be harmonized with the city’s urban forest management strategy—which aims to protect and enhance Burnaby’s urban forest. Burnaby is currently in the process of conducting an inventory of boulevard trees in the city under this strategy.

Gu said that ideally the urban forest management strategy should lay out the visions and details of Burnaby’s tree canopy—including what kinds of trees should be planted, where they should be placed, and when—and the tree bylaw should be a tool for accountability in ensuring that strategy gets accomplished.

Gu wrote a motion for the environment committee last May on reviewing the tree bylaw, with the intent of targeting tree planting to the Metrotown and Brentwood neighbourhoods, but said she’s hoping the urban forest management strategy will inform those policy changes.