Community engagement period announced: development of tree management bylaw

Thursday, October 29, 2020 – With the District of Sooke’s commitment to managing long-term growth and responding to the climate action emergency, a tree management bylaw is being developed. The District is consulting with the public to support this process.

The public is invited to provide input through an online survey – available from noon on Monday, November 2, 2020, until midnight on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, on the District of Sooke website at sooke.ca/engage. This round of public input will help develop the preliminary tree management bylaw – to be presented to council on December 14, 2020.

“A tree management bylaw will set expectations for retaining and replanting of trees as council works to support the long-term growth of the community for future generations,” shares Mayor Maja Tait. “Sooke is a growing community. The District passed a resolution in 2008 signing on to the Climate Action Charter and council has continued to receive comments from residents concerned with how the growth in Sooke is being balanced with care for the environment, so this has been a long-time coming.”

Three phases of engagement will take place to shape as the bylaw is developed including public input (phase 1), stakeholder engagement (phase 2), and presentation of a draft bylaw to council (phase 3). The draft bylaw will be published with the December 14, 2020 agenda package by December 10, 2020.

For more information on the development of the tree management bylaw, please visit sooke.ca/drafttreebylaw.

 

Media Contact:
Christina Moog, Communications Coordinator
Tel: 250.642.1634, ext. 678
Email: cmoog@sooke.ca