Barrie might just have more trees to hug.
City councillors will consider a motion Wednesday night to approve an ecological offsetting policy, with added protection for single trees.
Ecological offsetting is a strategy where an established fee — in this case $57,500 per hectare of woodland removal or $500 per tree replacement value — may be collected by the city to compensate for the removal of trees or woodland for development purposes.
This funding would be applied to the planting of an equivalent number of trees or woodland, in an alternate city-owned location within Barrie’s boundaries, to achieve "no net loss" of the natural heritage feature in the long term.
“The ecological offsetting policy is a good step forward in our efforts to increase the city's tree canopy,” said Coun. Clare Riepma.
When offsetting was done by the Nottawasaga Valley and Lake Simcoe Region conservation authorities, "trees could be removed from the city and replaced in other parts of the watershed," he added. "Now trees removed in Barrie will be replaced in Barrie.”
The Ward 1 councillor noted this policy affects individual trees and woodlands of more than a half-hectare that are to be removed for development.
“However, before these trees can be removed, the policy requires that removal only be done as a last resort,” Riepma said. “Avoiding removal is the first priority and I think that is correct.”
To deter indiscriminate tree removals, the policy requires that private land development proposals demonstrate that avoiding, minimizing and mitigating tree removal have been explored through an approved natural heritage analysis, prior to seeking ecological offsetting.
The proposal must demonstrate to the city’s satisfaction that compensation is the only viable option.
The ecological offsetting fee of $57,500 per hectare of woodland removal breaks down to $50,000 per hectare for planning, design, site preparation, plant material, installation and monitoring costs, and an administration fee of $7,500 per hectare.
“I am hopeful that this new policy will help to protect and increase our tree canopy,” he said. “Let's see how it works for a couple of years. If it needs improvement, we can revisit it.”
This policy applies to the city’s land-use planning process for private and public land, including city infrastructure projects, according to the province's Planning Act, Condominium Act and the Environmental Assessment Act.
Instruments under the Planning Act or Environmental Assessment Act that may be used to ensure the collection of the ecological offsetting fee include: subdivision, condominium, development and site-plan agreements, committee of adjustment severances, rezoning approvals and private tree bylaw municipal infrastructure projects.
The policy does recognize there are limits and certain natural heritage features may be irreplaceable, so offsetting fees will not be considered for features that contain rare vegetation communities and forested wetlands. Generally, offsetting will also not be considered for watercourses or for the minimum vegetation protection zone abutting the Lake Simcoe shoreline.
Riepma says more can still be done for Barrie’s tree canopy.
“There are a couple of things that I would like to see undertaken with respect to trees in the city,” he said. “Many of our street trees are struggling to survive. This is because of poor planting specifications and insufficient maintenance in the form of watering, fertilizing and pruning.
“We should consider increasing this part of our budget to get better results,” Riepma added. “It makes little sense to plant trees only to have them fail to thrive a couple of years later. Also, I would like to develop a program to encourage the general public to plant trees on their private properties.”
An ecological offsetting policy is just the latest city measure to protect and restore Barrie’s city trees.
Council has approved a waterfront tree capital project, with the objective of planting 1,000 trees along the lakeshore during the next 10 years, starting in 2024. It would be funded from the city’s ecological offsetting reserve and be detailed in next year’s business plan and budget.
Barrie’s total area of 24,876 acres has approximately 7,576 acres of tree canopy on private and public land — with 71 per cent on private property and 29 per cent on public land.
In 2018, the total canopy cover was measured, via satellite photography, at 30.5 per cent of the city’s land base.
Of the total tree canopy area, 2,184 acres are protected on public land by the public tree bylaw and 3,296 acres are regulated by the existing private tree bylaw.
The remaining 2,184 acres, or 28 per cent of the tree canopy, is not regulated under a tree bylaw.
