UPDATE (Sept 1): Hydro One commits to trimming trees in Beaverbrook
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“To have them…take it all down was devastating.” Residents question Hydro One plans in #Kanata #Beaverbrook https://t.co/pwOvNmuKY0 pic.twitter.com/KDeRdtGrWn
— Jessica Cunha (@JessicaACunha) August 3, 2017
Jessica Cunha reports in the Kanata Kourier-Standard:
Many Beaverbrook residents are concerned after discovering Hydro One has marked trees on their properties. A number of homeowners discovered orange spraypaint on their trees last month. Neighbours, concerned about what the markings could mean, sent a flurry of emails back and forth.
The trees, many large and more than 50 years old, are located within Hydro One’s easement for its power lines, which extends 12 metres on either side of the centre line. The corridor overlaps the backyards and properties of at least 125 homes in the area, as well as the Kanata Golf and Country Club…
The utility recently cleared its easement just up the road in Morgan’s Grant. It removed trees, hedges and shrubs, as well as invasive species like wild parsnip, and planted a pollinator seed mix to create a more meadow-like environment in the stretch of land that runs between homes.
Residents in Beaverbrook are worried the same could happen, but right in their backyards.
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It includes work at the Richcraft Recreation Centre on Innovation Drive.
“Every single tree and shrub is going to be taken out there,” said Wilkinson. “They’re even making the city move 40 or 50 trees planted in front of the Richcraft centre, approved by hydro at the time three or four years ago.
“We’ve tried working with them, the residents have talked to them, the stewardship council has talked to them … They do not want to maintain it. They virtually want to have it all meadow and then only come back when the trees naturally grow up.”
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More than 30 people attended the meeting on July 18, including tech entrepreneur Terry Matthews.
“This might be the single most serious event that’s happened in this area,” he said, adding clearing the area “could devalue our properties significantly.”
Residents need to “work together to stop Hydro One from stripping the vegetation in Kanata under the full corridor width; to interact with Hydro One immediately and ask for mutual respect in the work to be undertaken early next year to achieve safety and continued tree-trimming practices as previously undertaken over the last 50 years,” said Matthews.