A CITY COMMITTEE has ruled a row of 12 maple trees have to go to construct a sidewalk.
More than 1,500 people have voted in an online survey to save a row of 12 healthy trees on Dwight Avenue from being cut down to install a sidewalk.
A City of Toronto Infrastructure and Environment Committee on December 2 voted to adopt a staff recommendation to remove a dozen Norway Maples from Dwight for a walkway.
Councillor Mark Grimes was noticeably absent from the meeting.
REMOVAL of the 12 maples has angered some community residents. Staff photo.
The trees scheduled for removal run along the fence of Second Street Junior Middle School and provide shade, exposure to nature, and separation from a busy street to the young children who play there, area residents said.
“These trees play a vital role in local ecosystems and water management, and help to mitigate climate change,” they argued.
The City of Toronto Transportation Services department scheduled installation this year of a sidewalk on the west side of Dwight Avenue between Birmingham Street and Maple Boulevard. The timing of the sidewalk installation was based on the opportunity for the work to be bundled with adjacent state-of-good-repair work on surrounding streets, which saves the city money.
However, the sidewalk installation plan included in the subcontracted work calls for the removal of 12 trees, most of which are large, healthy, mature trees.
“This is of special concern in this location, since new last mile logistics warehouses are being built directly adjacent to Second Street Junior Middle School, and can be expected to bring more traffic along Dwight Avenue,” officials heard.
City staff discard the option of narrowing the road because it is “beyond the scope of the existing contract” and further expenditure is not programmed in the near-term.
One year ago Mayor John Tory accepted the Champion of Trees Award from the Arbor Day Foundation on behalf of the City of Toronto.
The Infrastructure and Environment Committee on December 2 will reaffirm Toronto’s longstanding target of 40 percent tree canover cover by 2050 to align with the City of Toronto’s Transform TO Net Zero Strategy. In the same meeting, it was proposed that the committee destroy an entire block of mature trees to install a sidewalk.
Seven of the trees to be removed are healthy, mature maples, which are located along an urban street from which they cannot spread to any forest or ravine.
The recommendation will be considered by Toronto City Council on 15 December before the trees can be removed.