[CANUFNET] Municipal tree ownership/responsibility

Mon Dec 19 12:14:54 EST 2011

Hi Alex,
The issue of ownership and responsibility of trees that are, in part, on City property has been on-going for us in Saskatoon. If you check out the City of Toronto website you'll see they have a form they use titled 'Consent to Tree Maintenance For Boundary Line Street Trees'. I'm not sure what their experience is with using this form but in Saskatoon we have the same form. We also define a 'Straddling Tree' in our City Council Policy (I've attached it). There are still cases that come up that are complicated. Generally, when trees are more than 50% on our property we keep them on our inventory and maintain them, even if a home-owner may have planted the tree. Presently in cases where the tree is less than 50% on City property we may or may not maintain these trees depending on the situation and whether the tree is currently in our inventory. Most home-owners want us to continue to maintain these 'straddling' trees given the choice. To make things complicated there are times when home owners want a straddling tree removed, and this can become an issue.
We recently had our solicitors department comment on what our responsibility may be in these various situations and they responded by telling us with that with 'straddling trees' there is duel ownership therefore the two parties should enter into an agreement as to who will do what with the tree. Even though an owner signs this form they tell us there may still be liability should a catastrophic event happen, not related to "an act of god". We were also told that if we made an error by planting on private property we must make an effort to maintain these trees. In cases where home-owners planted on our property we do take ownership of these trees and have an obligation to maintain them.
I hope this is helpful.

Michelle Chartier
Urban Forestry - Supervisor
Infrastructure Services - Parks Branch
City of Saskatoon
michelle.chartier at saskatoon.ca<mailto:michelle.chartier at saskatoon.ca>
office-975-2757
fax-975-3034

From: canufnet-bounces at list.web.net [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Alex Satel
Sent: December 19, 2011 8:40 AM
To: 'Canadian Urban Forest Network'
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] Municipal tree ownership/responsibility

Peter and Tim,

Thank you for your replies. It's interesting to compare the two approaches in Ajax and Gananoque.

I wonder if any other municipal foresters or arborists might have more to add to the discussion. I'd be very interested to hear a bit more about how these issues play out in your communities, especially if your approach varies from either of the towns we've already heard about.

Cheers,

Alex

Alex Satel, MFC
ISA Certified Arborist ON-1353A
Urban Forest Innovations Inc.
1248 Minnewaska Trail
Mississauga, ON  L5G 3S5
T: (905) 274-1022
C: (416) 452-8054
asatel at ufis.ca<mailto:asatel at ufis.ca>
http://www.urbanforestinnovations.com<http://www.urbanforestinnovations.com/>
[cid:image001.jpg at 01CCBE39.31928140]

From: canufnet-bounces at list.web.net [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Peter Murray
Sent: December 14, 2011 4:26 PM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] Municipal tree ownership/responsibility

Alex;  In our 5,000 size community, Gananoque, even accurately determining the street allowance can be a problem. The town works department generally paces off the street boundary, and if the tree is anywhere close to it, the town will maintain it if the tree centre is say less than 1/2 meter inside the boundary.  The tree treatment required and the hazzard are taken into consideration when determinig action. I am not aware of any written policy on this .   Peter Murray, chairman, Urban Forest Committee
From: Alex Satel<mailto:a.satel at utoronto.ca>
To: 'Canufnet'<mailto:canufnet at list.web.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:15 PM
Subject: [CANUFNET] Municipal tree ownership/responsibility

Hello all,

I am interested to know how your community determines tree ownership and assigns responsibility for maintenance, particularly with regard to street trees.

Many communities operate on the principle that if 50% or more of the stem is on public property, the tree is a City asset and a municipal responsibility. Does your community work differently? If so, do you maintain street trees if less than 50% of the stem is on municipal land, or if only if the tree is wholly on City property? Has your community at any point transitioned from one approach to another, and if so, did that significantly change the workload for your forestry crews?

Any insights into this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your consideration, and best wishes for the holidays.

--Alex

Alex Satel, MFC
ISA Certified Arborist ON-1353A
Urban Forest Innovations Inc.
1248 Minnewaska Trail
Mississauga, ON  L5G 3S5
T: (905) 274-1022
C: (416) 452-8054
asatel at ufis.ca<mailto:asatel at ufis.ca>
http://www.urbanforestinnovations.com<http://www.urbanforestinnovations.com/>
[cid:image001.jpg at 01CCBE39.31928140]

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