Proposed changes to Perth County forestry conservation bylaw to be brought to lower tiers and public before approval

Amid rumours about how proposed updates to Perth County’s forestry conservation bylaw will affect farmers and the use of their land, county staff will soon be taking those changes on the road to educate lower-tier councils and staff, as well as the public, on the soon-to-be updated bylaw.

Representing the county’s agricultural working group – an advisory committee representing the interests of Perth County’s farming community, industry and commodity groups – deputy warden and working group chair Dean Trentowsky presented the updated bylaw to county council at its June 5 meeting.

“Council direction was given in March 2024 to review the existing forest conservation bylaw,” he said, noting the agricultural working group was tasked with reviewing the bylaw and comparing it with those of other nearby counties including Oxford, Huron, Wellington and Chatham-Kent.

“ … Having secured all the information and having had that April meeting with the recommendations, the ag. working group submits a report to council with proposed bylaw updates including clarified definitions for the existing forest conservation bylaw, the addition of a windbreak definition, amendments previously passed by council and a proposed committee exemption process.”

The committee exemption/appeal process, Trentowsky explained, is based on the process included in Oxford County’s forestry conservation bylaw. It allows applicants who have issued a notice of intent to injure or destroy trees in accordance with the forestry bylaw who are not satisfied with the expert opinion of the county forestry inspector to appeal their decision and have it reviewed by the county’s land-division committee. A fee of $200 would be charged before the inspector’s decision is referred to the committee.

A number of terms within the bylaw have also been clarified or added through the proposed updates including Christmas tree plantation, cultivated fruit or nut orchard, windbreak and woodlot. According to Perth County forestry inspector and bylaw officer Marvin Smith, the definition for windbreak and woodlot has led to some concern among councillors and landowners in the county as their sizes relate to those set out in provincial legislation.

According to the proposed updates, a woodlot in Perth County is land at least 0.2 hectares in area and no greater than one hectare in area, with at least 200 trees of any size per 0.2 hectares; 150 trees measuring over five centimetres in diameter per 0.2 hectares; 100 trees measuring over 12 centimetres in diameter per 0.2 hectares; or 50 trees measuring over 20 centimetres in diameter per 0.2 hectares, but does not include a cultivated fruit or nut orchard, a windbreak or a plantation established for the purpose of producing Christmas trees or nursery stock.

A windbreak, meanwhile, is a linear treed area consisting of one to three rows of planted trees less than 0.2 hectares in size.

“Starting with the size of woodlands defined in The Municipal Act, there is not a conflict between the two,” Smith said. “The Municipal Act actually gives opportunity for a very restrictive definition for what can be protected as far as trees and what can’t. … It distinguishes between which level of government has the authority to (enforce) the restriction. It sets out that the minimum size for an upper-tier municipality size limit is one hectare, but the size limit for lower-tier municipalities is not given as minimum. In other words, lower-tier municipalities could regulate individual trees.

“So, the way that the forest conservation bylaw in Perth County operates is, for decades, the minimum size was set at one half-acre or 0.2 hectares. When The Municipal Act became the provincial legislation that oversaw forest conservation bylaws in 2001, that’s when the change occurred for the County of Perth to continue with its same minimum size limit of one half-acre or 0.2 hectares. The county needed to get the delegation of authority from the lower-tier municipalities to allow it to do that, and that process is set out in The Municipal Act. The bottom line is there’s no conflict with how The Municipal Act does it, it’s just a change in what the process is.”

While Smith noted there is very little the county can change in the updated forestry conservation bylaw, county councillors said they’ve continued to received questions and concerns from residents about what they can and can’t do when it comes to removing or injuring trees on their properties and how the proposed changes to the bylaw might impact that.

Expanding on a public communications plan for the bylaw update proposed by the agricultural working group, council ultimately voted to have staff present the bylaw changes to Perth County’s lower-tier municipal councils and staff, and the general public at an open house or public meeting, to provide information and education on the changes before county council considers approval.

“(The lower tiers) can make recommendations … for something they want in (the bylaw) or something they want taken out; is that not the idea of going to lower tiers if more recommendations come forward?” Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz asked.

“Going to the lower tiers, as I understand it, is part of the educational aspect,” Smith said. “There are many things in the bylaw that can’t be touched because they’re set out in The Municipal Act. One is the one you’d mentioned earlier about the authority of municipal governments to do certain things when private landowners can’t. … You can’t take that out. There’s a whole string of things there. The wording in the forest conservation bylaw was not dependent on a group of people at some time in the past set out by the County of Perth to come up with. There’s a lot of it that’s word for word what’s in The Municipal Act, and so there are limits there as to what you can change.

“Certainly, I think the county, in going to the lower-tier municipalities, is quite open to any feedback. I think part of it is an educational aspect as to why certain things are set out the way they are. … Obviously, there’s a need for that kind of education. … There’s a lot of rumour and what I call rural myths that go on about forest conservation bylaws.”

Perth County staff will work to set out a schedule for lower-tier presentations and public meetings or open houses, which the public and the local farming community will be made aware of.