Tree protection rules and permits in the City of Duncan

The City of Duncan regulates trees through Tree Protection Bylaw No. 3135, 2014, which applies to trees within the City. It was first adopted on April 20, 2015.

The City publishes the consolidated copy for convenience only. It states that the consolidation is not a legal document and that certified copies of the original bylaws should be consulted. Ask the City for those if you need the exact legal wording.

As of the October 21, 2024 consolidation, Council had amended the bylaw three times. The consolidated copy puts the original text and those changes in one document. The amending bylaws are:

• Bylaw No. 3135.01, adopted April 16, 2018
• Bylaw No. 3135.02, adopted November 1, 2021
• Bylaw No. 3135.03, adopted October 21, 2024

Under the bylaw, a tree is a living, upright, perennial woody plant with a trunk of 6 cm or more across at breast height. It must be able to reach a mature height of 4.5 metres or more.

Trunk size is measured as diameter at breast height (DBH): the width of the trunk 1.4 metres above natural grade. If a tree has several trunks at that height, add the full diameter of the largest trunk to 60 percent of the diameter of each of the others.

The bylaw calls the trees it covers Protected Trees. Its size limits for four native species are much smaller than for other trees, so ask the City how they apply to a very small tree. A Protected Tree is any of the following:

• Arbutus, Garry oak, Pacific dogwood and Pacific yew that are 2.0 metres or more tall, or 7 cm or more in diameter measured 15 cm above natural grade
• Douglas-fir, grand fir, bigleaf maple and western redcedar with a DBH of 20 cm or more
• Any tree with a DBH of 30 cm or more
• Any tree in an Environmental or Hazard Development Permit Area shown in the City's Official Community Plan (OCP)
• Replacement trees, and trees planted or kept as a requirement of a subdivision application, development permit or building permit
• Significant Trees
• Any tree with evidence of a nest or use by raptors (birds of prey, as the Wildlife Act defines them), osprey or a heron colony

No one may cut, remove or move a Protected Tree without a valid permit, and that includes replacement trees.

Many of the rules on work short of removal turn on the drip line. The bylaw defines it as a circle on the ground around the trunk. The circle reaches out as far as the tree's outermost twigs.

Unless a permit allows it or an exemption applies, the bylaw prohibits the following on a Protected Tree:

• Cutting, damaging or undermining roots growing inside the drip line
• Running trucks, backhoes, excavators or other heavy equipment over those roots
• Placing fill, building materials, asphalt or a building or structure inside the drip line
• Denting, gouging or damaging the trunk, removing or penetrating the bark, or attaching a sign or poster to the tree
• Putting concrete washout or other liquids or chemicals harmful to the tree's health on the ground inside the drip line
• Removing soil, blasting, or changing ground or surface water levels inside the drip line
• Topping the tree so its normal canopy is significantly changed, unless the tree is part of a hedge
• Cutting or removing more than 25 percent of the live crown in any 12-month period

The bylaw lists cases where its tree permit is not required. Most of them are below. The others cover emergency personnel responding to an emergency, City work on public property, and a public utility maintaining above-ground utility lines, each with its own conditions.

Read the exact wording in the bylaw and check with the City before relying on any of them.

• An issued Development Permit authorizes the removal. If a building permit is also needed, the tree can't come out until that permit is issued. The Replacement Tree fee in the City's fees and charges bylaw must also be paid for each tree.
• The tree is inside the building envelope and has to be removed to lawfully build a building, accessory building or addition under an approved Building Permit. The building envelope is the part of a lot where a building may be placed under the setback rules in the City's Zoning Bylaw. Those rules may be varied by a Development Permit, Development Variance Permit, Heritage Alteration Permit or the Board of Variance.
• The removal is to install roads or services shown on a City-approved engineering drawing for an approved Building Permit, an access permit or a subdivision approval.
• A tree severely damaged by natural causes poses an imminent danger of falling and injuring people or property, and must be removed on an emergency basis.
• The work is normal pruning in line with sound horticultural practice.
• The work is pruning a hedge, which the bylaw defines as a row of three or more trees forming a continuous dense screen of vegetation from ground level.

Significant Trees are trees of significant size, species or heritage value listed in Schedule B of the bylaw. That schedule was replaced by Bylaw No. 3135.01.

To prune or top a Significant Tree, you need permission from the Director, which the bylaw defines as the Director of Public Works and Engineering or a designate. To cut or remove one, you need permission from City Council.

Applications go to the Director in writing, with a non-refundable fee set in the City of Duncan Fees and Charges Bylaw. That fee does not apply to an application for permission to remove a hazard tree.

An application must also include a statement of purpose and rationale, and the street location and legal description. Written consent is needed from the registered owner, if that is not the applicant. It is also needed from the registered owners of the land where the base of the tree is.

The application must describe how drainage and erosion, wood waste and debris, and noise and dust will be controlled, and give the proposed completion dates. It must also include any security the bylaw requires for replacement or substitute trees.

Anyone applying to cut or remove a Protected Tree must flag or paint each tree to be cut or removed. They must mark on the ground, with paint, stakes or flagging, the protected root zones of all trees on the parcel. They must also mark the parts of those root zones where the tree-damaging work is planned. They must put a tree protection barrier that meets Schedule E around every tree that is staying, so its trunk, branches and protected root zone are not damaged. The barrier must be built before the permit is issued and stay in place for the whole period of construction or demolition.

The Director can ask for more, such as an approved arborist report or a Tree Protection Plan prepared by an arborist under Schedule D. Where the parcel contains or is next to a watercourse, the Director can ask for a survey plan showing the top of bank. The Director can also ask for any other information needed to describe the work.

The bylaw defines an Arborist as someone certified by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). They must also be qualified as a certified tree risk assessor by the ISA, or by the Province of British Columbia as a Wildlife/Danger Tree Assessor.

For a hazard tree, the Director can require a report from a certified tree risk assessor certifying that the tree is dead, diseased, damaged or otherwise a physical hazard.

The Director can also require a report from a qualified professional engineer, professional biologist or certified arborist. The report confirms that the removal will not cause flooding, erosion, land slip or watercourse contamination.

Every application also needs a tree cutting and replacement plan drawn to approximate scale. The plan has to show:

• Parcel boundaries and abutting streets
• Existing buildings and site features
• The location, species and DBH of each tree to be removed, kept or replanted
• Tree protection barriers

A permit can't be transferred to another person. It must be posted where it can be seen on the property at least 72 hours before cutting or removal starts, and stay up while the work goes on.

The City can also order hazard work. Owners and occupiers must prune, cut or remove trees, hedges and shrubs that the Director considers a hazard to people. The same applies to those likely to damage public property or seriously inconvenience the public.

If the work isn't done within five days of notice, the City may do it and charge the owner or occupier.

Oakstead Tree & Property Care is an independent arborist consulting business and has no part in the City's permit decisions. We can record the species, size and location of your trees on a site plan, and write the arborist report or tree protection plan the City asks for. Before anyone digs near roots, air spading can expose them with compressed air, and resistograph mapping can check a trunk for decay. Hands-on removal, pruning and planting go to partner companies.