Illegal logging and accommodation: a landlord in trouble

As of Saturday morning, the power double bay accommodation saw started to rumble in the courtyard of this 13-unit building located in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district, near the Montcalm district. At around 11 a.m., a neighbor intrigued by the work and annoyed by the noise took a picture of a pruner that climbed trunks and sawed off branches. 

In total, the worker felled nine trees that had risen in the sky for 15 years. Tenant of the building to which the court is linked, Ruth Parizé made the jump by noting the hecatomb. 

In the yard, she took stock of the dead: the Norton cherry tree, the wild cherry tree, the spruce, the white pine, the sugar maple, the two chestnut trees, the pyramidal cedar, the caraganier, without counting the crabapple at the front of the building, razed to the ground a few months earlier. 

"I was overturning. I said, "It's not true, it's double bay accommodation really bastard," "says Ms. Parizé, a native Gaspé who works as a night security officer. 

Joined on the phone Thursday morning, Frédéric Murray, co-owner of the Murray Buildings, which owns the building on rue Saint-Jean, first mentioned a tree that "was in the electrical wires". Asked about the nine stumps freshly cut on his property, he said he did not know how many trees had been felled by the workers. "I don't know everything they cut, but ... what was in the legs," he says.

On another call from the Sun  five minutes later, Mr. Murray declined to say whether he had obtained a permit to fell trees and declined to comment on the 12 tickets received for illegal accommodation in his building. "Why are you calling me to ask me lots of questions?" He said. As far as I know, this is my field. ” 

Quebec City confirms that the company double bay accommodation did not have a permit, but cannot say more. "Since this file will be brought to court, the City will not comment," said spokeswoman Cindy Demontigny. 

In Quebec, you must obtain a "certificate of authorization" to have the right to fell a tree on private land. The control of felling "remains an double bay accommodation effective means to limit the excessive cutting of trees", explains the City on its site. Homeowners can obtain a logging permit if trees prevent them from building a building, garage, extension or any other infrastructure. But first they have to get a permit. 

In 2004, Ruth Parizé had herself planted the felled trees to green the courtyard of the building. But she is not the only one to be angry in the neighborhood. "Trees are the lungs of the city," said Nicole Henrichon, who lives on Lockwell Street just behind the courtyard. 

Trees improve air quality by capturing dust and air pollutants, cool the ambient air with shade, lower air conditioning costs and beautify the neighborhood. "The tree plays a role for the community," says double bay accommodation  director of the Regional Environment Council.

In 2016, the City of Quebec published its “Vision of the tree” in which it set itself the target of increasing its “canopy” by 32% to 35% by 2025, projection on the ground of the treetops visible from the sky. 

While the emerald ash borer is wreaking havoc in Quebec, the illegal felling of trees goes against the City's efforts to maintain and increase the quantity of trees on its territory. In the Saint-Jean Baptiste district, the canopy is around 10%.

On the phone, Frédéric Murray refused double bay accommodation to specify what he planned to build in the courtyard of his building, where a mechanical shovel was still parked this week. But the City is also initiating a prosecution for illegal construction.