The owners of a Coquitlam home that was badly damaged by a falling tree Sunday morning had been warned by an arborist that the tree should be chopped down, according to city staff.
The city’s parks, recreation and culture manager, Raul Allueva, told The Tri-City News Tuesday that the tree, which was on private property, was examined last month as part of an assessment of the entire stand. An arborist was called out on Dec. 11 when another tree — one on city property — had fallen and crushed a vehicle at the same home.
“We let them know that that really should be removed,” he said, noting that homeowners are responsible for the vegetation on their property. “I don’t know why it took that amount of time for them to do anything about it. We did give them approval on site.”
The Tri-City News was unable to reach the property owners but, on Sunday, they told Global News the city should do a better job of managing its green belts. They said that while nobody was injured in the accident, which occurred while the family was eating breakfast, the home at Sheffield and Highland suffered approximately $100,000 in damage.
But Allueva noted the city does regular assessments of all of its greenbelts and will warn residents when they see unstable trees on private property.
“We have had a couple of storm events this year that have been challenging,” he said. “We do assess on a very regular basis trees on public property. They are assessed and we manage that.”
The home that was damaged on Sunday sits partially within a riparian area and there are restrictions on cutting trees.
But Allueva said that in instances where property might be at risk, the rules do not apply, as long as a qualified arborist can assert that a tree is in danger of falling.
“Any time there is a tree that is deemed hazardous, that tree can be removed even without a permit,” he said. “The owner doesn’t have to wait.”
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