Policy · Tree Canopy · Ward 2 Tree Protection By-law Joshua Glover  |  Candidate for Councillor, Ward 2

Under Section 135 of the Municipal Act, 2001, Ontario municipalities hold the statutory authority to regulate the injury or destruction of trees. While regional peers like Whitby, Pickering and Ajax have enacted modern urban canopy by-laws, Clarington continues to rely on an outdated 1997 Woodlot Preservation By-law (By-law 97-35). Because By-law 97-35 applies only to qualifying small woodlots south of Taunton Road, while Durham Region’s Woodland Conservation By-law covers woodlands of one hectare (2.5 acres) or larger, gaps remain in the protection of smaller mature stands, green corridors and commercial development sites.

Policy 7.4.21 of the Durham Regional Official Plan encourages area municipalities to enact local by-laws to protect trees and woodlands outside the Regional framework. When elected Ward 2 Councillor, I will replace Clarington's outdated 1997 framework with a modern Tree Protection By-law designed for the development pressures our community faces today.

Policy Commitments 

My Tree Protection By-law will stop pre-development clear-cutting before municipal site-plan approvals are finalized, while strictly protecting the property rights of homeowners and family farmers:

• Targeted Development Scope: The by-law applies strictly to commercial, industrial, institutional and major residential developments of four units or more, preventing interference with provincial gentle-density provisions. Single-family homeowners, ordinary residential backyards and normal farm practices on agricultural lands are completely exempt.

• Arborist Review & Permits: Landowners on designated development sites seeking to remove mature trees (15 cm or greater diameter at breast height) must obtain an administrative permit supported by a certified Arborist Report and Tree Preservation Plan. This requirement applies unless tree removals have already been finalized as binding conditions of an approved Planning Act application.

• 2:1 Replanting & Tree Reserve Fund: Developers must plant two native canopy trees on site for every mature tree removed. If on-site planting is physically unfeasible due to lot design, an equivalent, cost-recovery cash-in-lieu payment must be remitted directly into Clarington's dedicated Tree Planting Reserve Fund to finance street tree planting and urban forestry restoration across Bowmanville.

• On-Site Enforcement: The by-law equips Municipal Law Enforcement Officers with on-site enforcement powers available under the Municipal Act to address unpermitted tree removal. Violators would be subject to applicable Provincial Offences Act fines and economic-benefit penalties authorized under municipal law.

The market cannot take into account what it does not own. The things that make Clarington lovable—its beauty, its history and its trees—are not commodities to be bought and sold, but common inheritances that we have a duty to protect. As your Councillor, I will protect them.

 On October 26, vote Joshua Glover for Peace, Order and Good Government.