Resident frustrated with Town’s willow tree mess

For the past 15 years, Quaker Road resident Liz Souter has been cleaning up the Town’s mess and is getting “sick of it.”

Souter’s house is located directly beside the walking trail linking Quaker Road to Harold Black Park. Leaves and branches from two Town willow trees are consistently dropping, or being driven by the wind, on to her property.

She said there were three trees at point, however, the Town removed one a decade ago.

Souter says she calls the Town’s Public Works Department and Mayor David Augustyn at least three or four times a year about the situation.

The latest leaf and branch drop happened between Tuesday, November 6 and Wednesday, November 7, when the region experienced high winds.

The aftermath of the wind storm saw mounds of leaves carpeting an open area between her house, fence, and backyard.

Leaves also became trapped in the nooks between the front roof peaks, which Souter says she will have to hire a contractor to clear because she can’t do it physically. Sizable broken branches littered the side along the house, while one became caught between two deck posts.

The clean-up effort took two days for Souter to complete—a day each for the back and front yards. This also included helping to clear her neighbour’s front yard.

On Monday, November 12, when she cleaned up her backyard and alongside the house, Souter says she saw that the branches dropping on her house had dented her eaves-troughs.

One year, Souter says, a willow branch measuring about five inches in diameter dropped on her husband’s truck, causing considerable damage. As a result, the truck needed to be repaired and repainted. Because of this, Souter says she feels it’s unsafe to leave her car in the driveway

“It seems like I pay all these taxes for nothing, and I can’t even enjoy my own backyard,” she says.

Souter asserts that she can’t even have her 103-year-old mother, or her grandchildren, visit in the backyard. Two years ago, when her sister was visiting with her granddaughter, Souter said a branch blew into the yard and almost injured the girl’s eye.

At one point, Souter did have her own trees in her backyard. Now, the only evidence remaining are the ground-level grass-covered stumps. She says she had them removed two years ago because she was getting tired of cleaning up the leaves, and the roots were beginning to disrupt the house’s foundation.

Souter has had the Mayor, a Town arborist, and on Monday November 12, Councillor Elect Bob Hilldebrandt, out to look at the property to present a justifiable case for removing the trees due to the ongoing damage they are causing.

When Souter replaced her roof in 2017, the roofing company mentioned a thick mass of moss two inches in depth that carpeted the roof. This growth was due to the trees blocking the sunlight, leaving the roof unable to dry, which allowed the moss to eat away at the material.

“It looked as though we had a green carpet roof from one end to another,” Souter says. “Roofs are supposed to last a long time and I don’t want to have to replace the roof again in five years because of this.”

In 2017, after Souter’s daily persistence, she had a consultation with the Town’s Arborist. Souter says that “he should have just stayed in the office, he seemed very disinterested when I explained my concerns to him.”

She adds, “He commented to me that he wished he had these willow trees in his backyard. I was in disbelief.”

Five years prior to that consultation Souter said the Town’s action was similar, responding that they can’t remove trees “every time somebody complains about a little windstorm.”

In 2016, when the Town brought its equipment and staff to trim the tree, Souter says she watched them take only one limb off.

Souter posed the question, “Why is it they can take down 500 trees to build a subdivision, but won’t remove two because it’s damaging my home?”

Because the two willow trees are rooted in the creek, Souter said this contributes to quick growth, even after the trees were trimmed two years ago.

“The trees grow so quickly yearly that trimming them every two years is not enough, we’ll just be in the same situation. A significant cutting of the two trees or even full removal is the only way the problem can be resolved.”

Souter says that Councillor-elect Hildebrandt took pictures of the property and said he will address the issue once he is officially sworn in.

When Mayor Augustyn visited her property last year, Souter said that even he agreed these were the “Town’s fastest-growing trees.” He advised her to call the Town’s Public Works Department to schedule a staff clean up.

Souter said she took the Mayor’s advice, since this year’s drop was worst than last. When she did arrange for a Town staff member to come clean up, they were a “no-show.”

In a follow-up call to the Town’s Public Works department to ask about the no-show, Souter says she was told, “They got busy. Clean it up yourself.”

Souter says she doesn’t mind minimal clean up, but it becomes a challenge when trees the size of the current two “pose a potential threat to my home’s structure.”

Souter says she is physically exhausted and frustrated.

“I’m 75 years old. I’m not getting any younger. I would rather be doing other things with my time than cleaning the Town’s mess made by its trees.”

“They need to be responsible and come clean this up when this happens.”

The Voice made multiple requests for comment from the Town. In an automated email reply, Town Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald said that he was off for the week and to direct questions to Town Clerk Nancy Bozzato. Bozzato neither replied to nor acknowledged receipt of a request for comment. David Augustyn declined repeated requests to reply in writing, a long-established practice when requesting comment from the Mayor, intended to minimize assertions of quotation errors.