Can you not use your quotes as professional backup and do your own arborists report.

Nope!

This tree is on private property? Who originally planted it?

Yes and me.

Just prune it each week to you get your desire height....


My wife had that discussion, which essentially was "what if I prune it to be 5 feet tall with one branch on it?"

Personally....I think its a small amount to pay for peace of mind, but then again, that is just me.

I think you should smuggle the tree out, one leaf, one branch, one top at a time. By the time the tree police get to the 'root' of the problem it will be too late!:o

You may wish to check London bylaws too
I work for the City of London and I'm sure there are no such regulations in place. We have by-laws to protect trees in "Environmental Protection Areas" as well as trees on the City road allowance but that's it. I could have a 100 year old Oak tree on my property and I'm free to cut it down. And if I do cut it down I could bundle it up in small bundles and take it to the curb on our scheduled brush collection days and the City will take it away for me at no extra charge.
I understand tree preservation but having to pay the City that amount of money (or any amount) simply to be allowed to cut down a tree on private property just isn't right.

Looks like there's a lot of variation by municipality. London, as rlb states, is on boulevards and EPAs.

http://www.ontariowoodlot.com/bylaws_contacts.html

Drill some holes, deep as possible, fill with appropriate herbicide, seal holes with glued on piece of bark, wait for tree to die, have arbourist roll the $100 fee into the removal cost. (if you or any of your IMF team are captured, the OP will disavow any knowledge)

Power to the People.

Copper nails are quite good at killing trees too.

This will explain the disappearance of trees around the London Area :D

My god man nurse that poor tree back to health:eek:

I'm glad I don't have to put up with Mayor Miller and his cohorts in my community.

Well, I have learned some things after several conversations with city employees.

In a nutshell, i have learned the rules are even more bizarre and more ridiculous than I ever imagined.

In my case, I have learned that it will actually cost me about $225 to have the necessary permits and reports to take down the tree, however, since its not "dead", only pretty much dead, I would be forced to put another tree in its place.

I have decided to save my money and wait until the tree is ALL dead. This will save me over $100 and then I won't be forced to plant a new tree in its place.

Only in Toronto.

Hard to believe there is scepticism for the 1 cent of the GST campaign.

We're going through the same thing right now and it's just plain STOOPID! The city is more than welcome - in fact encouraged - to preserve trees where they have a responsibilty for those same trees, but how on Earth does that extend to a tree that *I* planted on *MY* property? If those in new construction homes never plant trees because of the fear of this license fee in the future, how does that help the environment?

Pure idiocy.

that *I* planted on *MY* property?

Yes that was one of my points to the city.

If I was to buy a lot and decided to rip out some old growth trees that were above the limit when I bought the property then I can live with that. (call it a historical tree law similar to homes and buildings designated as historical sites)

In my case, I planted the tree on my property. <grrrr>

Can you post a photo of the tree so that we can all see just what it looks like? :)

picture a 50 ft high polar with the top 20 feet and part of the remaining tree being nothing with branches and no leaves.

Wait for the next big thunderstorm and pull the tree down then blame it on the weather.

Those trees are pretty resilient at coming back when they are pruned. I assume you mean Poplar.
Cut off all the dead branches instead and see what happens. It may come back better than it was before. They can't nail you for pruning dead branches can they?

Pruning the branches is a pretty big job that requires professional help especially since the top 15 to 20 feet would essentially have to be lopped off!

I suspect the cost to prune would be close to the cost of taking it down (excluding the permits of course) so I really don't want to spend the money and then pay again next year!

Its funny that everyone has a "mischievous" way of taking it down. Sadly though, I'm sure that is what many people around the city are doing just that to healthy trees. It's sad when stupid laws are legislated and people simply ignore or sidestep them because it takes away the legitimacy of other meaningful laws (like those against stealing satellite and cable signals!)

If you have a buddy with a chain saw and can get your hands on an extension ladder and a harness you can do it yourself assuming the tree is nowhere near any power lines then obviously you don't want to mess with that. :o

This tree is big and in the corner of a lot. I want someone with lots of insurance doing the cutting!

Plus not a lot of my friends in Toronto have chainsaws, 50 foot extension ladders and harnesses!