Bayside Council |VIC|New Draft Tree Protection Policy

TrevMcRev

Here is a revision to policy at draft stage.
I do a lot of work in this area & they are probably the most strict around.
This will loosen things a little around pruning, previously ANYTHING needed a permit if the tree is over 155cm circ @ 1m. Yes, a single twig!

Any feedback or suggestions can be passed on for consideration at this stage.

Attached Files

Draft_tree_policy_September_2008.pdf (366.3 KB, 286 views)

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Eric Frei

I need to read/see As it is not in that document.

Couple of things straight off the bat I think suck.

1/ Council arborists make the assessment.

2/ QTRA ... not a freely available system and requires licence, training and is open to varying interpretation (actual legal cases have shown this). Why use and adopt a system not freely available to all, then have only council officers assessing trees?

How much does it cost to get/be a QTRA assessor etc?

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TrevMcRev

• are protected by Local Law No. 2 Environment Clause 36 Tree Protection:

(1) A person must not, except in accordance with a Permit,
(a) destroy, damage or remove or allow to be destroyed, damaged or
removed on any Private Property; or
(b) cut, trim, lop or prune or allow to be cut, trimmed, lopped or pruned
on any Private Property:
(i) an Identified Significant Tree; or
(ii) any Tree with a single Trunk Circumference or Combined Trunk
Circumference greater than one hundred and fifty five (155)
centimetres, measured at one metre above Ground Level

The QTRA thing threw me a bit too, i know Sean Freeman is registered for it, maybe he can shed some light on how it might fit with this policy...

Council arborists have always made the assessments here. Some have been good & reasonable, having confidence in your ability to sensibly perform what you requested in the permit application, others have been down right silly in their decisions, forcing retention of some seriously defective trees while telling clients that they will never fail!

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TrevMcRev

Actually, heres the full, existing policy.

One good thing ekka, there was some mention of excluding palms

Attached Files

Tree_protection_on_private_property.pdf (259.1 KB, 195 views)

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Eric Frei

Trev, that makes all trees under 50cm DBH fair game right?

That's pretty big DBH I think, many trees in Brisbane wouldn't make that DBH and if people knew that they would cut them down at 49cm DBH!

I dont see it as councils role to assess private trees. Not on. They should stick to their own and request arborist reports for others.

Open email to Gold Coast City Council Mayor

Tell me, when Mary's plumbing goes and she needs to find a leak, does the council send some-one out?

No, of course not, unless the problem is their side (council's side) of the water meter. But that's right, this is trees, and we miss out our consultation fees/dues because we're not like other trades, those Diploma's are for wall paper!

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Eric Frei

Come vote, lets give them some feedback, forum and not controlled by organisation style!

Should councils (govt) assess private trees | poll | Vote Yes or No

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TrevMcRev

Yep & even if we provide a report, if they dont agree & dont grant the permit you cant do the work!

I have had some major ethical issues with some activities & members at this council on consulting(?) well beyond their job of approving or not approving work requested on a permit. Even on trees not related to the permit application.

155circ@1m includes combined total of multi stems. And i've had some ridiculous examples of that. Like fruit trees, oleanders, cotoneasters etc, might only be 3m high but have 18 stems from ground level or below 1m 3cm dia each, its over size!

$120 app fee & maybe 4-12 weeks wait for approval to remove a $100 tree.

Also had a case where on a large property with many trees a client get knocked back on removing a full size washingtonia 1.5m from his house, not visible by any neighb or street due to position, so he went & cut down every other (30+) trees except the palm and 1 other tree oversize.

The council came out on their high horse thinking they busted us, measuring trees that were about 1cm under

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Sean Freeman

Every risk assessment method or system has its draw backs and problems, they all actually have the same one really...our subjectivity, that is the subjectivity of the assessor.

Where QTRA has an advantage over all the others is in two areas;
1) It is target driven, we all know trees have defects every tree has a million of them, and in the right (or wrong) circumstances any of the more significant defects could fail, but this is not relevant if there is not a significant target.

2) It creates an auditable trail, it is transparent as to how the assessor reached their conclusion of the probability of significant risk of harm to persons or property....there is no smoke and mirrors, no magic numbers...no more its a 12 so it get felled, its a 10 so it stays.

Why is this important to LGA's? Because decisions to commmit resources based on tree risk assessments demand justification, whether it is to act or not to act...and if you are to stand up in court you'll arguably be in a more defendable position with a system like QTRA than any of the others...you would still have to convince the judge/commissioner/bench etc...but QTRA limits subjectivity to the area of our expertise (or at least what should be our expertise).

Eric Frei

Local government's job is to govern, not do our jobs.

Get the contact details for the council up thanks, time to do some work I think, and work that doesn't come from some organisation that has council members sitting on the committee or board!

Need to write the Mayor and everyone else on that council, need to rally up and have people vote, I can see the public voting that councils should assess the trees as it then becomes a free service, all part of the application fee etc, where as if they had to get a consulting arborist it would cost them more.

But my research tells me the area is affluent and house prices in 2004 were $550K and now closer to $1million.

So we have affluent people with million dollar houses getting their tree reports for free from the council, wow, what a great system! NOT.

Sean, costing of the QTRA please?

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Sean Freeman

What do you mean costing? To get licensed I'm guessing....somewhere around $800 I think.