Some residents of West Vancouver are shocked and angry after watching the virtual clearcutting of a number of properties.
On one property, about 30 trees were cut down in less than 48 hours, with no warning to residents from the developer.
It is believed that developers raced to beat a new city tree cutting bylaw that came into effect Wednesday.
“We stood there with the kids and our jaws were literally all dropped,” said neighbour Amy Usher. “We were all in tears, it was an awful, awful thing to witness.”
West Vancouver was one of the few municipalities where land owners required no permits to cut down trees on their property. But the demographics are changing and prices are soaring, so when a new buyer lays down four and five million dollars just for the land, increasingly the first thing to go is every single plant.
Now the bylaw states that no one can cut down any tree on their property with a diameter of 75 centimetres or more, or they will face a $1,000 fine.
However, many think the fine is not enough in an area where all the houses are in the six million dollar range.
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