In an effort to limit the injury, destruction or removal of trees on City Property, Saskatoon City Council has approved and passed a new Tree Protection Bylaw.

The bylaw partains to trees with 50 per cent or more of their trunk on City property, and residents who wish to complete landscaping work around these trees will be required to get a permit to do so.

City Parks Director Darren Crilly says there are several actions listed in the new bylaw that will now require a permit to perform.

“A permit would be required for more major types of landcape construction. (This includes) total landscape rehabilitation like removal of sod and significant grading. Minor irrigation installation would be considered a minor landscape adjustment that would not require a tree permit,” he assures.

Crilly adds that in the future, online portals will be launched to help residents differentiate the difference between a major and a minor project.

Councilors Randy Donauer, Troy Davies, and Zach Jeffries opposed the motion for various reasons. Donauer stated that he does not support making residents apply for permits to do work in their own front yards.

Councilor David Kirton suggested that the bylaw should be rewritten to consider a person’s physical and mental health as a reason to justify the removal of a tree, as opposed to only considering the health of the tree.

“Last summer, I was trying to help residents who had been affected by a City tree in their front yard that had maple bugs. Some people call them pests, but for these residents it was a mental health concern, especially when you consider that one of the reidents needed to get up.. at about three in the morning and empty their bed of bed bugs”, Kirton relayed.

He questioned Administration if currently, a tree could be removed if it has a negative affect on a person’s health or mental health, to which they replied no.

His motion to make that a possibility was voted down by nearly all of his councilor colleagues.