Guide
Town trees on boulevards and in parks, trees on your own land, trees near power lines, and Halton Region's woodland by-law.
The Town of Halton Hills looks after trees on Town property, including boulevards; concerns go to Transportation and Public Works at 905-873-2600, ext. 2603. On your own land, the Town's Property Standards By-law requires dead or damaged trees and limbs to be removed or pruned. Woodlands over 0.5 hectares and Regional greenlands fall under Halton Region's Tree By-law 121-05.
The Town. It maintains a large number of trees on Town property every year, boulevards included, and its maintenance services cover tree and shrub care on Town property alongside parks and trails. If you are worried about a Town tree, call Transportation and Public Works at 905-873-2600, ext. 2603.
Yes. The Town's Maintenance Service Request covers Town boulevards, roadsides and recreational facilities, and its list of what the Town maintains includes trees on Town property. The Town's maintenance responsibilities do not extend to private property.
Residents and businesses are expected to maintain the lawn out to the road edge or curb; the Town maintains landscaped areas and boulevards with no direct frontage.
Yes. The Town is planting more than 2,600 trees on Town-owned land over two years, in parks, along streets and around Town facilities, with a grant of over $280,000 from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Growing Canada's Community Canopies program. The Town says its canopy is about average overall but drops sharply in urban areas.
Under the Town's Property Standards By-law, a tree or plant, or a limb of it, that is dead, diseased, decayed or damaged must be removed or pruned. Trees, hedges and shrubs must also be kept so they do not block traffic or pedestrians, block drivers' or pedestrians' view, or hang over a public sidewalk or Town walkway.
The Town's Trees page does not describe a Town permit for removing a tree on private property; Halton Region's Tree By-law can apply to larger woodlands, and trees required as a condition of development must be kept or replaced.
Contact Halton Hills Hydro before planting, removing or trimming trees and bushes near power lines, poles or ground-level equipment; it can give you a list of trees approved for planting near lines and its clearance rules. Where trees grow into lines owned by Halton Hills Hydro, it does the trimming or removal. Always get utility locates through Ontario One Call before digging.
On many rural properties the overhead line on the property belongs to the owner, who is then legally responsible for maintaining it, including trimming trees to keep clearances.
Halton Region, not the Town, administers this by-law for woodlands and greenlands anywhere in Halton Hills.
Halton Tree By-law 121-05, in force since 1 January 2006, applies to two kinds of property: those containing all or part of a woodland larger than 0.5 hectares (1.1 acres), and those partly or entirely within the Regional Greenlands system, now part of the Natural Heritage System. It regulates cutting trees in those areas.
As an example, Halton Region treats a treed area as woodland if it has more than 500 trees a hectare with trunks over 12 cm across, covers at least 0.5 hectares, and has trees no more than 5 metres apart where they are evenly spaced. A woodlot's size is not limited by property lines; Regional forestry staff can measure whether an area qualifies.
You can cut up to 24 cubic metres of wood a year for your own use, not for sale or trade, following Good Forestry Practices. A permit is needed to harvest more than that in a calendar year, to harvest outside normal farm practices, or to harvest without an approved Forest Management Plan. A Tree Harvesting Permit has no fee; a Special Council Permit, for harvesting that does not follow Good Forestry Practices, needs Regional Council approval and a $500 fee.
The by-law does not apply to removing dead or diseased trees, normal farm operations, or trees already approved for removal under another process such as a Planning Act approval. The Region can investigate and lay charges.
Town of Halton Hills
TreesTown of Halton Hills
Maintenance ServicesTown of Halton Hills
By-law No. 2008-0137, Property Standards By-lawHalton Hills Hydro
Tree Trimming & PlantingHalton Region
Halton Region's Tree By-Law