City Hall is looking to place greater value on the thousands of trees it owns in London.
In an effort to protect and grow the urban forest, changes to the Boulevard Tree Protection Bylaw would include ticketing people for damaging city trees and charging them the true value if they want it cut down.
"It is an asset and we will try to recover the costs that we are losing because of that, regardless of what the reasons are," says Ivan Listar, manager of Urban Forestry.
The bylaw covers trees on all city-owned land, excluding parks. Most are found on the city owned strip of land front of homes.
After the proposed bylaw revisions, infractions would include pruning, vandalizing, attaching permanent signs or even hitting a tree with a vehicle.
Londoners can still ask the city to remove a boulevard tree but now, rather than just being charged the cost to cut it down and remove the wood, a standardized appraisal method will determine the tree's worth by taking into account the species, age, health and location.
Mature hardwoods can cost thousands of dollars.
Through the Urban Forest Strategy, Londoners have supported placing a higher value on city owned trees.
Bylaw revisions would also include significant changes in wording.
No longer would someone be accused of pruning or trimming a city tree, now it is being called "injuring" a tree.
If a boulevard tree needs pruning or other maintenance the city has a forestry hotline where they can request authorized service.
Last year it received over 10,000 calls.
The bylaw changes could come into effect the first week of February but ticketing would have to await court approval.
