CRD Watch Homepage

The Secret Life of Public Trees: The City of Victoria will not release the details of an initial arborist’s report which assessed all the trees in Centennial Square.

By Mary Fowles
Feb 22, 2025

FOI REQUEST: UPDATE

I have submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request to the City of Victoria and have received a response back. 

The city will not release the details of an initial arborist’s report which assessed all the trees in Centennial Square. The report contains a tree inventory, tree management plan and construction impact assessment for the Centennial Square Redesign project.

TIMELINE 

On May 16, 2024 Talmack Urban Forestry Consultants assessed all the trees in Centennial Square for Dialog Design. 

The report noted how each tree would be impacted by the construction plans for the square. This initial report was  never, to my knowledge, released to the public. If it was released, it has since been withdrawn. 

The arborist report was revised on September 12, 2024 and this revised version is publicly available.

REQUEST FOR INITIAL REPORT

My FOI was simple and read: “This request is for the original report.”

The reason some of us are interested in seeing the initial report is because the revised report notes that retaining the sequoia is not possible in light of the construction plans. 

Indeed, this was emphasized at the Committee of the Whole meeting on July 4, 2024, when Director of Parks Recreation Facilities Derek Newman said:  “The [Dialog] design that is before Council today [to vote on] would not be able to be achieved by retaining the tree.”

In other words, we feel the tree is not being removed because there is something wrong with it but because it conflicts with the “revitalization” design plans for Centennial Square (see the approved design plans here: https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=98054).  We have a hunch that the tree could be (and should be)  protected, and that this might have been spelled out in the initial arborists report. What reasons could there be to redact an arborist report which relates to public trees? 

REPORT CENSORED BY S. 13

In response to my FOI, the city sent me a copy of the original report, but it is heavily censored.

The response I got back from the city is as follows:

“Some information has been withheld pursuant to section(s) 13 (Policy Advice or Reccomendations [Sic]) of FOIPPA. Your request is now closed.”

I noticed the arborist report wasn’t actually conducted for the city; it was conducted for the design company itself.

The revised report notes that it was changed to reflect the review of an updated tree management site plan submitted by Dialog on Sept 9, 2024  as well as a Civil Concept Design, submitted by McElhanney Ltd. on May 5, 2024.

I have since reached out to the city to obtain both these documents. 

In the redacted original report the following sections are missing: 

1. Sections of the report’s Executive Summary are censored.

2. Parts of the Construction Impact Assessment are censored, including the section about the retention and removal of municipal trees.

3. A section called Additional Mitigation Measures for Municipal Trees is censored.

4. Parts of the Tree Impact Summary Table is censored.

5. The entire Tree Inventory Table is censored.

6. The entire Tree management Plan is censored.

APPEAL AND NEXT STEPS 

I appealed the city’s use of S. 13 and yesterday received this response from the city: 

 “Good Afternoon, Upon further review of the records responsive to your FOI request, our position on the exceptions to disclosure remain unchanged.”

The next step will be to file a complaint with the OIPC and await their ruling.  

By that time our tree may be long gone.  

***

The original (now censored) report which I received from the city can be read here:
FOI Request VIC-2024-218 – Original Report with Redactions.pdf

The revised report which was released to the public can be read here:
Centennial Square Revitalization Plan – Revised Arborist Report.pdf

The response from the city to my FOI Request can be read here:

FOI Request VIC-2024-218 Response Letter.pdf

More information about Section 13 (s.13) of FOIPPA can be read here:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/services-for-government/policies-procedures/foippa-manual/policy-advice-recommendations

The OIPC Complaint Process on the use of S.13 to redact documents is outlined here: 

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/for-the-public/how-do-i-make-a-complaint/