Neighbourhood resistance may save 19 trees threatened by road construction

Trees marked for removal on Regent Street and Fraser Avenue in London, Ont. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

Residents fighting to save 41 mature trees in Old North from a road construction project have made progress — but the city’s concessions are unlikely to quell the controversy.

On Thursday, an information open house at city hall got off to a rocky start when about 30 neighbours bombarded engineers with questions and accusations.

Plans to rebuild a section of Regent Street and Fraser Avenue were initially going to require the removal of 41 trees from boulevards and front lawns.

A couple weeks ago, the city reduced the number of tree removals to 38.

At the open house, neighbours were told of a pilot project to potentially spare an additional 16 – leaving only 22 trees on the chopping block.

But the announcement didn’t lower the temperature of frustrated neighbours whose concerns about process, public meetings and communications remain unresolved

“The high level of frustration is that people were not consulted with something that is a material change to our neighbourhood,” homeowner Chris Harris explained to CTV News.

Residents of Old North question city engineers at a public meeting on April 13, 2023. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)Damage to roots and branches caused by construction can kill a tree a year or two later.

So the city’s approach has been to proactively remove trees that are unlikely to survive construction.

The pilot project for Regent Street and Fraser Avenue will instead take a wait-and-see approach.

The trees will be significantly pruned to minimize damage from large overhead equipment, hopefully giving them a fighting chance.

“We are very happy that we’ve been able to reduce the number of trees being removed by almost half,” said Director of Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Ashley Rammeloo.

Coun. Sam Trosow described the pilot project as a compromise by city staff.

“The staff are really trying to accommodate the concerns being raised, although they absolutely cannot accommodate all of them,” he said.

Trees marked for removal on Regent Street and Fraser Avenue. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)The pilot project can’t guarantee all of the additional 16 trees will survive.

The city has paused the public tendering process for the construction project pending public consultation, but still expects to undertake the work this year.

“We love our trees too. We don’t want to take out the trees,” added Rammeloo. “But we do have to maintain that critical infrastructure.”

While residents in the construction zone review the specifics of the latest tree preservation proposal, Harris had a warning for other neighbourhoods.

“I would say to the rest of the neighbourhoods out there, you should be on absolute watch about what the city is planning to do.”