Residents of Aintree Crescent are “disgusted” with the illegal cutting down of two trees on a property on their street.

The work at 10571 Aintree Cres. began on Friday, April 10, according to Kate Dickieson, after a man with a chainsaw was dropped off at the property, which is undergoing construction work.

article continues below

Dickieson said she and some of her neighbours confronted the man, but he wouldn’t identify himself or say who told him to cut the trees.

“The guy had torn the yellow stickers (stop work orders) off the trees and hid them in the brush before he started to cut,” said Dickieson, who added that she first contacted the city about the issue Friday.

The man apparently tore the stop work order notices off the trees on Friday. Residents later put the notices back up. Submitted photo by Lisa Craker

Lisa Craker, also a resident of the neighbourhood, said the man left – getting into a car waiting nearby – after sawing off five or six branches from one tree, as the conversation with neighbours was getting heated.

All the man told the crowd of neighbours was that his boss had told him to cut the trees and he had put the stop work orders in the bushes “so that they wouldn’t blow away,” said Craker.

“This clearly shows the guy had knowledge of what those orders meant,” she said, adding they were posted back on the trees by some of the neighbours after the man left.

While the weekend was quiet, Dickieson said that she heard the sound of a chainsaw again Tuesday morning (April 14) and saw branches falling. She again contacted the city.

“By the time I came (outside), the trees were down,” she said. “Just a terrible, terrible mess. They were some beautiful trees. A few of our neighbours were out and we’re all disgusted with what’s happened.”

Pictures submitted to the Richmond News, taken Tuesday, show the man sawing one of the trees, which still has the stop work order attached to it.

One of the trees was cut "without much care or caution," and fell covering most of the street. Submitted photo by Lisa Craker

The bigger tree, said Craker, was cut “without much care or caution,” and fell covering most of the street. The man then took off, again leaving in a car that was waiting for him at the corner of Shell Road.

A City of Richmond spokesperson said the city is “extremely unhappy” with what happened, and has fowarded the matter to its law department for appropriate legal action.

Fines aren’t enough

Craker said one of her neighbours called the police, and both Richmond RCMP and the city came by to speak to everyone. And while they were told there would be an investigation and all permits have been pulled, Craker isn’t sure that will stop anything similar from happening in the future.

“With owners and developers so willing to go against the bylaws and laws, and so willing to just pay a fine, this behaviour is never going to stop. What’s a $10,000 fine to someone already spending $1 million on a property?”

Submitted photo by Lisa Craker

In addition to losing permits for demolition, Craker said she believes the property owner should be made to pay stiffer fines and ordered to replant the trees they cut – if not double that amount – given the impact the loss of the trees has to the neighbourhood and environment. It also allows the developer to build a “mega home with wall and gate."

This type of scenario is also harmful to Richmond’s neighbourhoods, said Craker.

“We are losing the ‘neighbour’ in our neighbourhoods,” she said. “These properties are being paved over and surrounded by walls and gates...Owners are letting properties and older homes deteriorate to the point it’s not worth putting any money into renovating, so the only option left is demolishing and rebuilding.

This is not progress and these changes are not for the betterment of our neighbourhoods.”