Restrictive Covenants


Management of Hazard Trees within Restrictive Covenant Areas

It is recognized that trees within a restrictive covenant may pose an unacceptable hazard to human life and/or property and require treatment or removal. In this respect, if you as a covenantor are suspicious that a tree poses a hazard to people or property, we point you to the following procedure:

  1. The covenantor (the property owner) is to retain the services of a qualified professional that has successfully completed a hazard tree assessment course that is approved by the International Society of Arboriculture or an arborist accredited by the American Society of Consulting Arborists to assess the hazard potential of the subject tree(s). The arborist's evaluation is to include recommendations for the minimum treatment necessary to reduce the hazard to an acceptable level, the number, size and species of trees necessary to be removed, and the number, size and species of appropriate native species replacements according to the ESD tree replacement criteria.
  2. The course of action recommended by the qualified professional to remove the hazard is to be undertaken by the covenantor according to the following best practices:
    • All work shall be undertaken in such a manner so as to minimize the disturbance to surrounding vegetation,
    • Good pruning practices, as recognized by organizations of professional arborists, instead of complete removal, whenever possible,
    • If complete removal is prescribed, the maintenance of wildlife tree snags, and retention of fallen trees within the covenant area whenever possible, and
    • When trees must be removed, replacement with similar or appropriate alternative native species as per the Ministry of Environments planting and replacement criteria.

The following links provide information on Tree Replacement Criteria and Riparian Planting Criteria.