Although several complaints have been filed since Chatham-Kent council passed a clear cutting bylaw, municipal staff have not found grounds to lay any charges.
Paul Lacina, Chatham-Kent’s chief building official, said the municipality has received 14 complaints regarding tree removal under the bylaw. Bylaw enforcement has investigated, he said, and found no contraventions to the bylaw.
“There have been other times where they have removed trees, but it was within the parameters of the bylaw,” Lacina said.
The bylaw was first passed in April 2021 originally with an expiry date. It has been extended several times and any expiry date was removed the last time council amended the bylaw in March.
Under the bylaw, clear cutting is defined as removing at least 0.1 hectares, or roughly a quarter of an acre, of trees within a woodlot or woodland.
Anyone who disobeys any part of the bylaw can be fined up to $100,000. They may also have to rehabilitate the land or plant trees if any court considers it appropriate.
Lacina said his team has found through investigating other complaints that some landowners have done select harvesting of timber, removed trees due to storm damage, removed trees as part of drain maintenance, removed a tree line or taken out stumps from trees that were removed before the bylaw passed.
These cases were all within the parameters of the bylaw, he said.
As well, he said there have been eight additional calls to clarify details of the bylaw.
“Does the property size and tree density meet the law? What is considered a hedgerow? What is vegetation versus trees?” Lacina said. “We’ve had a number of calls and inquiries about that, which were calls where we had to go and look at the site.”
Complaints about clear cutting can be made by contacting the municipality’s building development services through 519-360-1998.