Questions about the alleged chopping of mature trees in Kanata are yet to be answered by the city, the lawyer representing the accused property developer said in court on Thursday.
“We still don’t know what this is all about,” lawyer Michael Polowin said at Metcalfe Realty’s first appearance on a charge of injuring, destroying or causing the destruction of a tree without a permit.
A city bylaw officer has accused Metcalfe of committing the provincial offence, which can amount to a fine up to $100,000, between May 25 and May 31 at 936 March Rd., according to court documents.
The city had been scheduled to visit the site in June to see if the area should be deemed part of Ottawa’s natural heritage system.
Polowin told the court he’s been asking for an explanation from the city since a stop work order was issued on June 13 but has yet to get an explanation. “Staff and politicians have been making statements in the press that our clients did, in fact, contravene the bylaw, an assertion which our client denies,” Polowin said, asking for an immediate disclosure order.
The justice of the peace did not grant the order. She said she trusted city lawyer Stuart Huxley’s commitment to disclose information as soon as possible. “Mr. Polowin, this is not your first time in a courtroom. Nor is it mine. You and I both know we have, neither of us, have control over what politicians and others will say about the law,” the justice of the peace said.
Outside court, Polowin said Metcalfe will plead not guilty if the case proceeds. He said the company made sure it wasn’t breaking the Urban Tree Conservation Bylaw, by bringing in an arborist with specific directions not to cut down trees with a diameter greater than 10 centimetres.
The only mixup Polowin said he could think of is about where the 10-centimetre rule applies. He said the measurement doesn’t apply to the base of the tree, but just above the chest, where some trees sprout out into multiple, smaller trunks.
He said his client realized the top of a red disposable cup, typically used for beer, is close to 10 centimetres across the top — so they were used to measure.
As for photos showing the chopped wooded area, Polowin doesn’t dispute them. But he said there was nothing illegal about cutting down the “shrubs.” “They weren’t trees as the bylaw defines them,” he said.
The case was adjourned until Sept. 18.
