Forestry clearance

Today we received the letter of clearance from the Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation department. This is related to the tree protection barrier that we have built at the end of August. I had my architect submitted the site plan on how the trees will be protected and the photos of my tree protection barrier. One step closer to my building permit now.

Building a tree protection barrier

So one of the requirement from the city for issuing the permit is to build a tree protection barrier around the protected tree. Like the one illustrated below. After some back and forth with the forestry department, it seems that all we need to do is to build a 4′ tall fence 6 m away from the tree using orange webbing.

Tree Protection Barrier

So together with my cousin we sent out to build the fence.

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Tree removal – Completed

The tree removal is actually completed by Davey Tree Expert back in March 19, 2013. But the snow hasn’t completely melted at the site and I wasn’t able to get a clear photo of what is looks like. Now that there has been a week of days where temperature is above freezing, the snow and ice finally have all disappeared. So I took a few shot of what the site looks like after the stump is removed.

Tree Removal

 

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Tree removal – Update 3

Three weeks has pasts since February 10th and the tree removal is still not yet completed. Dan Moldovan of Davey Tree Expert informed me that there are some fence parts grown into the tree and they have wrecked a whole chain due to these metal parts inside the tree. So now the work is in the back burner and moving really slow. I still have half a stump on top of the ground and stump grinding of course is still pending since the stump will have to be cut down to the ground level first before the stump can be grounded. The good news of course is of course that I don’t pay until the work is done. And since I’m not in construction phase, I can afford a bit of waiting time. Hopefully this gets resolved before March coming to an end.

Tree removal – Update 2

There was a big snow storm on Friday February 8th. There must be a good 30 cm of snow freshly on the ground. So no tree removal work for a while. But before the Friday storm, most of the trees are removed. There’s a little bit of stump left above ground and of course the stump still have to be grounded below ground.

Back Yard

 

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Tree removal – Update

So two days later, all the smaller trees in the back yard has been removed. And here’s what’s left of large Manitoba Maple at the back.

Tree

 

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Tree removal – Before

The tree removal guys will start their work tomorrow on Tuesday Feb 5th. So on Saturday Feb 2nd, we took the fence that between 157 Chisholm and 159 Chisholm down to make the tree removal easier. So here’s all the trees that we have in the backyard.

Tree Locations

 

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Big problem with the tree

I thought I am well versed with most of the building code and zoning bylaws before I designed my dream home. However that’s one thing that I seriously did not research. Urban forestry requirement. So today the bad news simply crashed down on me. I have two large tree and several small tree in the rear of the property. One large tree shared between 159 Chisholm and 157 Chisholm is deemed imminently hazardous and can be removed without a permit. The rest of the smaller trees are smaller than 30cm diameter and therefore not protected by Toronto’s Private Tree By-law. However there is one large (Oak?) tree shared between 159 Chisholm and 161 Chisholm that’s around 120 cm in diameter. And this one is causing me a huge headache.

 

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Tree removal quoted

Today I have Dan Moldovan from Davey Tree Expert came over to give me an estimate to remove some of the trees on the property. There’s one large tree (a Manitoba Maple) between 159 Chisholm And 157 Chisholm. That tree had one of it’s branch fell dowon in 2006 crashing right into the house at 157 Chisholm. I think it is an hazardous tree and must be removed no matter what. I also want the rest of the smaller trees removed to clear up space for construction. Don has confirmed that just like what I thought, that Manitoba maple should be deemed imminently hazardous and so no permit is required for removal. Then Don presented me with a very good quote for it. Back in 2006 when the tree branch fell on our house at 157 Chisholm, the insurance company said that it costed $6000 for simply clearing out that fallen branch. Davey in 2012 has quoted me the removal of the tree, removal of the 11 or so smaller trees from both 159 Chisholm and 157 Chisholm, and grinding the stump of the large Manitoba maple to 8-10″ below grade, for a total of just over $3000 + tax. Yes that’s complete removal of a very large tree plus a bunch of smaller trees for about 50% of the cost for simply clear out one of the already fallen branch by an insurance company’s, and the price is quoted more than 6 years later. I don’t know about you, but to me the operation insurance company (Meloche Monnex) is carrying out almost seemed like a scam to me. I guess it is smart of me to never use the body shop recommended by an insurance company for auto insurance claims.