Residents of the Long Branch community are facing a tough fight to save a historic Black Barn Maple tree that is estimated to be 160 years old from being cut.
An application to build two oversized houses and garden suite on two lots at 36 Ash Cres. was heard by the Committee of Adjustments last April and is being appealed.
The committee on September 14 deferred a decision on the application until the applicant obtained an arborist to develop a Tree Protection Plan.
More than a dozen residents have written letters opposing the build that they claim would injure and remove the Maple tree.
“This application results in an overbuild to what is permitted on the lot and if approved would be directly responsible for the removal of two significant trees,” Christine Mercado, chair of the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association (LBNA) wrote in a September 6 letter to Barbara Bartosik, Deputy Secretary Treasurer, of the Etobicoke York District Committee of Adjustment.
“ … There is significant doubt that the Applicant has any intention of upholding this TLAB decision and preserving the Silver Maple or a Spruce Tree on the abutting lot,” Mercado told Bartosik.
She said the Maple tree has the potential to be a heritage tree due to its health and size.
Max Dida, Supervisor of the Tree Protection and Plan Review – West District, wrote that “Urban Forestry requests that the Committee of Adjustment panel defer this application until the applicant/owner provides Urban Forestry with the necessary information to confirm whether the following bylaw protected tree can be adequately protected.”
Councillor Amber Morley in a letter said two trees would be impacted by the build and called for the application to be deferred “to allow the applicant to develop a suitable Tree Protection Plan and to provide Urban Forestry with the time necessary to conduct a site review, impact study, and submit their comments.”
Residents said the tree is close to a property line and if approved it will lose at least half its roots and tree canopy.
“The Black Barn Maple is protected as potential to be a Heritage Tree even though for it to formally go through the process it requires the owner to agree and sign off,” wrote Judy Gibson, chair of the Tree Canopy Preservation and Enhancement Committee, of the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association
“This will also set a precedent that no tree in Toronto is safe, no matter its size or even if it is a historical tree,” residents said. “The oversized house would require the Black Barn Maple of Long Branch to be destroyed.”
This Silver Maple is one of four trees in Long Branch recognized as a Historical Tree by Forest Ontario.
“This tree cannot be replaced by planting any number of new trees, not in this generation,” residents claim.