'They gambled with trees': Cutting down trees resumes in Lemay Forest

The next chapter of the Lemay Forest saga has unfolded as the sounds of trees coming down could be heard Monday.

After cutting started and stopped in September following a cease-and-desist order from the city, felling of trees resumed on the private property owned by Tochal Developments on Monday.

The city confirmed Tuesday the original cease-and-desist order was given because the developer did not have a permit to remove the trees.

That has since changed.

“The city issued a Development Permit to allow tree removal on these lands on October 18, 2024,” a city spokesperson said in a statement.

“As a result of the permit being issued, the cease-and-desist order was cancelled at that time.”

Planner John Wintrup has represented Tochal during this situation and said this work has been a long time coming.

“Something we’ve been talking about for the last year and a half of doing, and we’re doing it,” said Wintrup.

Tochal Developments wants to build a 5,000-bed assisted living facility on the site. The city rejected the application in September.

The city said the applicant for the site has appealed the decision.

The development has faced a lot of backlash from people in the community who don’t want to see the forest disappear.

Ann Loewen with the Coalition to Save Lemay Forest said hearing the saws cutting down trees was unfortunate.

“We feel it was done to us in a form of aggression, and we feel bullied that it was done starting Dec. 23,” said Loewen.

“We are very distressed by these actions and that they come right at a holiday time, a time for celebration and togetherness. There’s a real slap in the face to the community and to us as individuals and to the city.”

Wintrup said groups against the development have not been willing to work with Tochal and they just don’t want buildings behind their houses.

“Trees, unfortunately, have become, I think, the straw man argument – to save that tree and stop that housing. They’ve been highly successful at that. There’s been a lot of projects killed, a lot of housing killed because of trying to save a tree,” he said.

Wintrup said they were willing to negotiate with the other side about keeping some of the trees, but nothing came from it.

“(We’ve) tried to work with the neighbours to come up with something that would be agreeable for everyone. They refused to talk with (us). They gambled. They gambled with the trees, and they lost. It was all the trees or none of the trees. It’s going to be none of the trees.”

He said it will take time to remove everything, but they are in that process now.