Aylmer couple cut down dead ash tree and receive hefty fine

An Aylmer couple is contesting a fine which has reached close to a $1000 for having fell a dead ash tree without a permit after they argue a city officer requested them to.

“During the summer months of 2014 while we were moving into our current house at 226 des Fondateurs Street, a Gatineau employee placed a notice on our door advising us to cut down our dead Emerald Ash tree,” said Nadine Proulx, co-owner of 226, rue des Fondateurs.

The problem is that the owners lost the original notice. They requested a copy from the city, but the homeowners indicate that they city have not complied in providing them with the same version.

“At the time it was a pilot project, and based on the date that the city is indicating the notice was published we know that the version we received is not the same as what an employee provided us with. The notice we originally received was yellow with no images, and had three options with the option of “cut down the tree” ticked,” said Mme Proulx.

Asked to clarify a number of elements, a city spokesperson said that they would refrain from answering questions because the case is heading to court.

However, a city employee told the homeowners by email that an environmental patrol had carried out a pilot awareness campaign across the city in the summer of 2014. When officers would notice a dead or sick ash tree they would try to talk to the owner or leave a door hanger with information on how to proceed.

After receiving the door hanger, the homeowners asked a city employee who was responsible for cutting the tree down, if was there a timeline to fell it and if they had to hire someone specific to do so.

“No one ever advised us that we needed a permit to cut down the dead tree. During that same timeframe we obtained two other permits to cut down trees in July. If the city would have mentioned that we needed a permit during our conversation regarding the dead Emerald Ash tree, that the city told us to cut down, we would have gotten one since it’s free. Logically, it does not make sense that we would get two permits if we were told that three are required,” argued Mme Proulx. The city’s website does clearly state however on a section dedicated to the Emerald Ash Borer, that owners need to obtain an authorization certificate to cut down an ash tree.

In November 2015, the homeowners finally chopped the dead Emerald Ash tree which they indicate was become a danger to their house and to their neighbours as big branches were beginning to break off during storms.

Several months later, the family went to their Val-des- Monts cottage and saw that there was a notice from a Bailiff.

“The notice was not even sent to our permanent address which is 226 rue des Fondateurs. Upon contacting the Bailiff we discovered that the notice from the city was for cutting down a tree. In February 2016 we received $879 fine for cutting down the dead tree,” explained Mme Proulx. The homeowners pleaded not guilty (raising the fine to over $900).

Moreover, the Aylmer homeowners were confused as to why only one of their names was on the summon.

“My husband questioned why my name is on the summons and if he could switch his name for mine, since we wanted my husband to be the one to speak in court and because he’s the one who initiated cutting down the tree. We were told that they pick the name as it appears in their system and that he would not allowed to be in the courtroom during the trial and that the only way he could speak would be if I called him as a witness,” explained Mme Proulx.

“If my name appears first on their file for 226, rue des Fondateurs, then why send all the information to a completely different address (cottage) than where we live? We then noticed that within their evidence, half of the pictures that they had taken and including as evidence against us are not even of our house. When mentioning this to the prosecutor for our case, he simply just said it was a mistake in the file.”

Since cutting down the dead ash tree the family has planted a new tree in the front yard to replace the dead tree.