(Four Douglas fir trees felled on Chippewa Road)
FOI documents: Trees cut without development permit more than once next to municipal ravine
Homeowner feels 'absolutely sick about my carelessness' in cutting on public land
Freedom-of-information documents show that a Maple Bay area resident cut trees without obtaining a permit on more than one occasion next to a steep municipal ravine and creek.
The most recent incident involved the June 11 removal of four Douglas fir trees at a residence on Chippewa Road in the Kingsview neighbourhood.
The owner of the property, retiree Bent Jensen, has told sixmountains.ca that one of the felled trees was located on municipal land. “I made a mistake,” he said. “It wasn't that I was intentionally trying to do anything."
Jensen also said he didn’t realize he was required to obtain a development permit before cutting the trees due to the steepness of the ravine and proximity to a watercourse flowing to Quamichan Lake.
One wonders how many other residents have cut trees under similar circumstances — with or without municipal knowledge. In that sense, Jensen's case has wider implications.
FOI documents obtained by sixmountains.ca include a July 14 letter to the homeowner from Pablo Golob, manager of development planning for North Cowichan.
Golob notes that a site visit by municipal staff along with conversations with the homeowner “confirmed that historical tree removal and land alteration had taken place likely in or around the same protected setback area, and on slopes greater than 20 per cent.
“None of this land alteration was undertaken with an approved development permit in hand, nor under oversight from qualified environmental or geotechnical professionals.”
Golob added: “Evidence of past tree removal (visible stumps) raises the question of whether all trees previously removed were within your property boundary, versus on municipal property.
“The southwestern side of your property definitely contained slopes in excess of 20 per cent, and the majority of this area was now cleared of vegetation with exposed soil that could slough down into the ravine in heavier rain events.”
He also wrote: “Any tree or vegetation removal within a 30m (100 foot) setback distance from the top of bank of the creek requires assessment by a qualified environmental professional to confirm that the tree removal is necessary, and is undertaken in a manner that protects/avoids any damage to the riparian environment itself.
“Tree removal on steep slopes is further regulated by North Cowichan as it tends to create or exacerbate hazardous conditions from resulting slope instability and soil erosion.”
(BC government)
The letter says North Cowichan now requires the owner to complete the following steps at his own expense:
— Hiring of a registered land surveyor to establish the southern property boundary.
— A professional environmental impact assessment detailing historical and most recent tree removal and other land alteration.
— A geotechnical hazard assessment of the steep slopes.
— A development permit application along with the aforementioned assessment reports “so that any required restoration work can be regulated with appropriate oversight and/or financial security.”
In a July 16 email to the municipality, the homeowner said he took another measurement and "found myself short by 4 feet. Two trees are on my property entirely, one is on the property line and one is two feet inside the North Cowichan side of the line.
“The four feet would have included all four trees on my property. I was four feet short.
“I feel absolutely sick about my carelessness.
“After much deliberation, I realize, that in 2019, my neighbour…told me the location of the pin and I must have used his faulty knowledge to determine the distance since it is four feet from the pin — the distance that is short.
“He had believed that the pin was inside a white utility type drainage pipe. He told me that he had a similar one on the other side of the property that had his property pin inside of it.
“Five years later, we dug the pin out for his front fence and I had forgotten that my original measurement had come from the white utility pipe.
“An apology does not seem enough for this careless error. I am truly sorry for this mistake.”
Unlike Duncan, North Cowichan has no tree bylaw. But there are restrictions related to development permit areas under the categories of “natural environment” and “hazard lands.”
The goal is to “establish objectives and guidelines to protect and enhance environmentally sensitive areas, ecosystems and biological diversity, and to ensure development has a positive impact on natural features and functions,” says the municipality.
Jensen hired Canadian Tree Services to cut the firs. Six Mountains has asked the company to comment on any assurances it received prior to cutting.
A municipal employee just happened to be driving along Sansum Drive when the cutting was taking place.
"To be clear, at no time did I give permission or authorize any of this work, and I was not aware it was taking place," Bob Green, a parks supervisor, says in the FOI documents.
"Mike (a company representative) has indicated that the homeowner assured him the trees were on his property and that a surveyor had confirmed this from a property pin.
"I have some doubts about that."
Further reading: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/0cdd57b6-59e3-4466-892d-7d89aae617f8
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— Larry Pynn, Aug. 25, 2026
