Email from Gary Mathies re Rezoning Application 2022/04 - Tree Protection Plan

REZONING APPLICATION 2022/04 - 335 Stewart Avenue

Agenda item 9.3.3 (a) 1 (pages 69-127)
Submitted to Committee of the Whole for meeting on November 08, 2022.

My name is Gary Mathies and I reside at 333A Stewart Ave., immediately north of 335 Stewart Avenue. My wife (Niece Garry) and I are OPPOSED to this rezoning application.

Town of View Royal requested a Tree Protection Plan.

• the summary says '41 trees will be preserved'. We disagree strongly with this conclusion because:
  • the large maple (#720) tree's actual trunk is 4 ft (1.2M) inside the property line. The roofline extends even further
  • the 27 Arborvitae (hedge) have their trunks 4 ft (1.2M) inside the property line, about 14 of these will be displaced with construction (as acknowledged in Mr. Richard's original submission)
  • these Arborvitae "are planted within a raised garden bed above the driveway", "the raised bed would prevent any water pooling". This raised bed is already 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 ft (2.3M to 2.9M) inside the property line
  • the report says "the string set up in this photo is 5 ft (1.5M) east of the property line"
  • the arborist was using this string line to make his observations, yet this string line is actually 6 1/2 ft (2M) inside the property when measured from an existing survey post.

The arborist gave an assessment of the health of the trees and how construction might affect them. But he could not discern if any of the trees were actually in harms way because he was working with inaccurate survey lines.

We were given a dose of high winds over the weekend. I believe if the roots of the large maple are compromised in any way that it would become a danger to any nearby homes (read: our house). This concerns us greatly.

Mr. Richards points out a building coverage of only 11% of his property yet still wants to be within 2M of the property line, putting a number of beautiful trees in jeopardy.

The implementation of Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014 was brought forward, discussed at length and then passed to control the intrusion of over-large homes into established residential neighbourhoods. But here we are suggesting the building of a 4100 sq. ft. addition (appx 28 x 80 ft,) to an existing home, and placing it between two existing homes (335 and 333A). This addition alone is larger than all surrounding homes in the area.

We believe that Mr. Richards should indeed be able to build an addition to his home, just not so large and intrusive.

Mr. Richards has still not approached us on this proposal.

Respectfully,
Gary Mathies