As many of you know, at the February 2026 Environment and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) meeting, Councillor Wilson Lo of Ward 24 (Barrhaven East) gave notice of a motion that looked to significantly weaken the city’s Tree Protection By-law. Following consultation with City staff, the motion was significantly revised in April to instead focus on a very specific target area and proposing that the City would undertake a study so that homeowners in this Barrhaven East neighbourhood would not each have to pay for and submit a geotechnical report when applying for tree removal, in cases where it is suspected that trees planted in sensitive marine (leda) clay have been causing damage to private properties. These properties were built prior to the city’s marine clay guidelines, and as a result, large trees planted in this clay may be causing soil shrinkage leading to foundation cracks and shifting.
This motion was deliberated at the most recent ECCC meeting on Tuesday, April 21. While the motion did not strike up the same major concerns as the February version, CAFES felt it was an important opportunity to speak on our concerns about the undervaluing of trees, the importance of protecting our canopy, raising awareness about this issue of tree planting in sensitive marine clay, and spreading awareness on the City’s 2017 marine clay geotechnical guidelines. We recommended that the City ensures:
- The motion will not set a precedent for expedited tree removal or prevent future tree planting elsewhere in Ottawa where this clay exists;
- That the City’s technical guidelines for tree planting in marine clay are being strictly enforced to prevent unnecessary tree loss in the future; and
- That mitigating strategies (like pruning or watering) are being attempted first before going straight to tree removal in these areas of concern.
CAFES Tree Caucus chair Jennifer Humphries also gave an excellent delegation, speaking about the enormous values that trees provide and why residents should want them on their properties.
While the motion was carried, we were very pleased that committee chair Councillor Shawn Menard asked both CAFES and Jennifer thoughtful questions after the delegations, that Councillor Marty Carr provided a direction to staff to implement our exact three recommendations listed above, and that Councillor Johnson included an amendment to require replacement planting for any trees removed.
You can learn more about this by reading our Briefing Note written by Jennifer Humphries, and by checking out CAFES’ public delegation presentation below. You can view the meeting recording at the link here.