A West Vancouver homeowner is irate at BC Hydro for cutting down more than a dozen trees on her property.
“We’ve been on the property for 19 years, and they’ve always very nicely trimmed, sometimes over-trimmed, but they always worked with us,” said Darlene Holmes, who owns the home.
Not this year. About 15 trees have been taken down by BC Hydro. They say it’s to ensure the trees can’t damage a transmission line that runs next to the home.
Holmes claims it could decrease the property value by $200,000.
“They came on to the property on Monday, and the consultation was ‘here’s what we’re doing’. They said ‘this is going, and this is going’.”
Holmes said her family had to stand in front of the trees to prevent Hydro from cutting any further.
But BC Hydro spokesperson Simi Heer says the trees were too close to the line and could have caused a large power outage or fire. She added that certified utility arborists are on every site where trees are taken down, and that they’re working with the Holmes family on this case.
“We do vegetation maintenance year round throughout the province. Trees cause more than half the power outages in BC each year. It’s a part of maintaining the reliability of our supply,” said Heer.
Holmes claims Hydro hasn’t done nearly enough.
“They’ve done nothing. They took out many more trees than they ever said they would,” she said.
“What they did on Monday was enough for me to come down there and say that’s enough. That’s enough.”
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