www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, May 18, 2012 · 10 Continued from page 1 Developer notes it's a brilliant use of lands on the site. "The Ontario Municipal Board called this `a brilliant use of this land," wrote Anthony DiCenzo, president of 394 Lakeshore Oakville Holdings Inc., in an e-mail to The Oakville Beaver. "The simple truth is that this will be a new luxury estate community immediately adjacent to Lake Ontario for 16 new families to enjoy and call home. As for the homes within it, each not only meets, but often exceeds, the zoning requirements that you typically see in the surrounding area." One condition of the settlement saw the Town's acquisition of the waterfront portion of the property. "They created three different types of public access. Entirely down the east side of the property is a six metre wide access that brings you straight down to the lakefront," said Clohecy. "Across the lakefront there are the hazard lands that came into Town ownership as well as 15-metres for a walkway to connect to the Birch Lane promenade." Another public walkway allows members of the public to view the Lambert-Smye heritage house. Preservation of this heritage home and protection of the existing zoning, so the development would be compatible with the surrounding community, were also conditions listed by the Town. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said the settle- ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog Preparing the grounds: Development at 394 Lakeshore Rd. W. has seen the cutting of a large number of old trees to make way for residences. ment also allowed the Town to protect many trees at the site. "Council unanimously adopted the settlement because it achieved our goals of protecting the RO1 zoning and obtained the waterfront for the public," wrote Burton in an e-mail. "The Province exempts development from our private tree bylaw, so we did well to save 179 of the better trees along with other gains." Clohecy said there was a total of 470 trees on the 394 Lakeshore Rd., W., site, including the portions now controlled by the Town. Of these 470 trees, the developer is removing 236 while the Town is removing another 55 from its portion of the property as these trees were considered hazardous or were impacting other trees. "I live in the immediate area of this development. While I understand the residents' concerns, I suspect that if you live in Oakville, and in particular in this area, either you or someone before you has taken down trees on your property to accommodate your home. If you cut down more than nine trees on a 100 by 150 foot lot in Oakville to build your home you would be taking down more trees on a proportionate basis than we have on this 9.5-acre property,' wrote DiCenzo. "This is part of an approved process to bring 16 new families into a community of homes that will not detract in any manner from the area in which it is being created. I should probably mention that at one time we had proposed the retention of further trees on the property by simple accommodations like reduced front yard setbacks and innovative drainage practices, but the residents were very vocal that they would have nothing to do with that. All trees being removed were specifically authorized by the Town of Oakville pursuant to the tree removal permit and site alteration permit issued by them and included a significant number of dead and diseased trees," continued the correspondence. Clohecy said tree replanting on the site is another condition the developer will be required to meet. Development of the land has not sat well with the Oakville conservation association Oakvillegreen, which was called to the site as the trees started to fall. "I think it's pretty safe to say anyone would be disturbed by what we saw," said Karen Brock, Oakvillegreen president. "Massive trees, three-four feet wide, just lying in the ground. It looked like a massacre." Brock said she is concerned to see what looks like `clear cutting' in Oakville particularly when a campaign is underway to increase the town's canopy cover. "We believe in intensification, but surely there are ways to preserve these old forest growth trees and still have development," said Brock. "How can we protect something we all enjoy and something that really contributes to our long-term health?" Brock also said she expected the Town's Private Tree Protection Bylaw to put a stop to this type of tree removal and called for changes to prevent similar situations from taking place in the future. Ward 2 Town Councillor Pam Damoff also weighed in on the Town's settlement. "The feedback I got from residents when the settlement came through was they were very happy with it, but having said that I have heard from people about the trees," said Damoff. "I do think it was a good settlement overall in terms of preserving the lake views. The things the community said were important to them, that is what the Town took to negotiate the settlement. The tree part of it was separate." Burton said Oakville is still on track to reach its goal of 40 per cent canopy cover by 2057. At an upcoming council meeting, Damoff said she and Ward 2 Town and Regional Councillor Cathy Duddeck would call on Town Staff to report back to council on options to enhance the Town's Private Tree Protection Bylaw.