<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Why can’t municipalities require that any and all construction must remove existing topsoil in lifts and thoughtfully store that topsoil for re-installation on the same site. This should be entirely possible at least on public infrastructure projects.<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Oct 1, 2021, at 1:34 PM, Oliver Reichl via CANUFNET <<a href="mailto:canufnet@list.web.net" class="">canufnet@list.web.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="color:rgb(49,49,49);word-spacing:1px" class="">“Nowadays developers remove all of the precious topsoil from the land before building a new subdivision, then bring back enough topsoil to support the new sod.“</span><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="color:rgb(49,49,49);word-spacing:1px" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div dir="auto" class=""><span style="color:rgb(49,49,49);word-spacing:1px" class="">That’s been standard practice in the GTA for decades. Can a municipality regulate soil volumes?</span></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Oct 1, 2021 at 11:12 AM Trevor Thistle via CANUFNET <<a href="mailto:canufnet@list.web.net" class="">canufnet@list.web.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr" class="">Hi Ian, <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Here in Edmonton I have been working almost exclusively with tree conservation during Neighborhood Renewal (NR) for 13 years. NR is the process of reconstructing all sidewalks, curbs and streets in a neighborhood, as well as adding missing infrastructure. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In our oldest neighborhoods I feel that trees growing in boulevards with separate sidewalks (curb on one side, sidewalk on the other side of the tree) have not really been impacted by the perceived restricted growing area, with the exception of roots literally engulfing curbs or overlapping sidewalks. I believe that the reason for this is that the construction standards that were in place decades ago (between neighborhood establishment and the time the sidewalk was last replaced) allowed for the construction of sidewalks on top of organic soil. So, in most cases, the trees had little challenge accessing soil beyond the boulevard. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">However, new construction standards include a gravel base and mechanical compaction under sidewalks. Also, greenfield construction is not what it used to be. Nowadays developers remove all of the precious topsoil from the land before building a new subdivision, then bring back enough topsoil to support the new sod. In these cases, regardless of the sidewalk design (mono or seperate) the trees do not have enough soil volume to support them. We do amend soil volumes with trenches in separate boulevards, but these are trenches in clay with still inadequate soil volumes. So my point is, depending on construction practices and standards, the configuration of the sidewalks in relation to the trees may have less impact on soil growing space than we think. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">but I would agree that trees in a more free to grow state, with little or no barriers to quality soil will outperform a tree in restricted growing space, and there will be fewer infrastructure / tree conflicts. This means that we will minimize tree related damages to infrastructure and construction related damages to trees in order to maintain that infrastructure. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><span class=""><div style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><b style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(32,33,36)" class="">Trevor Thistle<font size="2" class=""> </font><font size="1" class="">Bsc. Forestry</font></b><br class=""></div></span><div style="margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><b class="">Urban Forester </b><b class="">| </b><b class="">PR-4760AM | </b><b class="">Tree Risk Assessment Qualified</b></div><div style="margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(81,81,81);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class="">OPEN SPACE OPERATIONS</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(81,81,81);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class="">CITY OPERATIONS | PARKS AND ROADS SERVICES</span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div style="margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class="">780-944-5577</span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">OFFICE</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class="">780-913-5893</span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" class="">MOBILE</span></div><br class=""><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(81,81,81);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class=""><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/City+of+Edmonton%C2%A0+12830+58+Street+NW?entry=gmail&source=g" class="">City of Edmonton </a></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(81,81,81);vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap" class=""><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/City+of+Edmonton%C2%A0+12830+58+Street+NW?entry=gmail&source=g" class="">12830 58 Street NW</a></span></div><div style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" class=""><br class=""></div></div><div style="margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><div style="font-size:13px;margin-bottom:0pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial" class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br class=""></div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Sep 29, 2021 at 9:21 AM Ian Wilson via CANUFNET <<a href="mailto:canufnet@list.web.net" target="_blank" class="">canufnet@list.web.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal">All, we are having a bit of an internal debate about standards for local/residential roads and boulevards. My observation is that trees that are planted in a boulevard behind a monolithic sidewalk (sidewalk up against the curb and planting
area next to the property) generally do better. They have access to more soil volume in the front yard, they get more water and the boulevard is tidier since the homeowner treats it like part of their yard. Also fewer issues with roots lifting sidewalks. Some
of our staff prefer the separated treed boulevard, for various reasons. Note, I’m not talking about busier roads where the trees in boulevards help to form a barrier from traffic.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">We don’t have a lot of good examples here that directly show a comparison. Does anybody have some photos that might show the performance of trees on one side of the road in a separated boulevard, vs. trees on the other side behind the sidewalk?<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Below is an example that doesn’t exactly show this, but it does show the value of soil volume, with the trees on the left side being able to access the lawn area behind the sidewalk, vs. the trees in “coffins” on the right. These are lindens
planted at the same time.<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><img style="max-width: 100%;" class="" apple-inline="yes" id="C116ED62-6B08-4707-88B1-004579EE7596" src="cid:17c322844776917eb1"><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><b class=""><span style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,115,207)" class="">Ian Wilson</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif;color:rgb(38,38,38)" class=""><br class="">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif" class="">Infrastructure Operations Manager | City of Kelowna<br class="">
250-469-8842 | <a href="mailto:iwilson@kelowna.ca" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:rgb(5,99,193)" class="">iwilson@kelowna.ca</span></a></span><span style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif" class=""><br class="">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif" class="">Submit a request for service on the go |
<a href="http://kelowna.ca/" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:blue" class="">kelowna.ca</span></a><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><i class=""><span style="font-family: Corbel, sans-serif; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">I acknowledge that my workplace is located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the syilx/Okanagan people</span></i><i class=""><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif" class="">.</span></i><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Corbel,sans-serif" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p>
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<font color="#222222" face="Arial, sans-serif" class=""><span style="font-size:12px" class=""><i class="">The contents of this message and any attachment(s) are confidential, proprietary to the City of Edmonton, and are intended only for the addressed recipient. If you have received this in error, please disregard the contents, inform the sender of the misdirection, and remove it from your system. The copying, dissemination, or distribution of this message, if misdirected, is strictly prohibited.</i></span></font></blockquote></div></div>-- <br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Oliver K. Reichl, B.E.S.(Hons)<br class="">-----------<br class="">Sent from my mobile phone.</div>
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