The Town of The Blue Mountains is going to take another shot at developing a tree protection plan for the community.
At its meeting on Nov. 20, council passed a resolution from Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon that asked for a staff report to explore the possibility of the creation of a tree standards committee or task force.
The move came just weeks after council defeated a controversial tree bylaw. Bordignon’s resolution envisioned the creation of a committee/task force that could work on the issue of a tree program or master tree plan for the community. The committee and/or task force would include representation from staff/council, the land development community, the agricultural community, the planning consulting community and The Blue Mountains Tree Trust.
“This task force/committee can come back to council telling us what would work for everybody or at least get everybody to being 80 per cent happy,” he said.
The deputy mayor recalled the development of the short-term accommodation bylaw and how the first step was getting the various parties in the same room talking about the issue. He said at that time there were STA operators and local residents who wouldn’t speak to each other, but were “shaking hands after a couple of meetings.”
“I’m just trying to find a solution,” he said. “I still maintain you will not get a solution until we have everybody’s input.”
The resolution was controversial at the council table and passed in a 5-2 vote with councillors Gail Ardiel and June Porter opposed.
Porter said asking for another staff report on the matter was “not an efficient use of time” for staff and said involving the development community in the process would be akin to “the fox in the henhouse.”
“The reason we’re talking about (tree protection), is because of what developers do,” said Porter.
Ardiel said she couldn’t support the resolution without more clarity about how a new tree master plan or tree program would apply to the community. She asked if it would be for the entire town or just settlement areas.
“There are a lot of things gapping for me,” she said.
Coun. Shawn McKinlay said he appreciated the new resolution coming forward and said he liked the idea of “taking a step back” on the tree issue to make another run at developing a tree program. McKinlay said there were still questions about how tree regulations would be enforced and the appeals process and noted that a staff report “could flush out all the extra layers.”
