Tree removal in Toronto: what's local
Palms along Victory Parade
Lake Macquarie's 2017 Significant Tree Register lists Canary Island date palms at the corner of Victory Parade and Cary Street, in the Victory Parade foreshore park, and right on the water at the end of Day Street.
Renwick Street
The same register lists Norfolk Island pines around numbers 5 to 11 Renwick Street, and jacarandas along Renwick Street from Bay Street to Day Street. If yours is one of a listed row, expect a careful look and an arborist's report.
The register may have moved on
The register was published in 2017, and Toronto's streets have changed since: council began renewing The Boulevarde in 2013 by taking out its famous figs. Council's guideline says to ask its Tree Preservation Officer for the current list.
Blocks that meet the water
Boats are moored off Toronto and smaller craft are pulled up onto private land at the water's edge. Council's 2017 guideline says a flora and fauna assessment is likely for trees within 40 m of a waterway, wetland or riparian habitat (the strip of plants along a shoreline).
Common trees in Toronto
Council's current page names Araucaria pines alongside native trees. Its 2017 guideline is blunter: consent is needed for a Norfolk Island pine taller than 3 m, or with a trunk 75 mm or more across at ground level. That's barely past sapling size, so treat any established Norfolk pine as needing an application.
Toronto is the shopping hub for the lake's western shore, about 28 kilometres from Newcastle's CBD, but it's under Lake Macquarie City Council, not the City of Newcastle. The Lake Macquarie page covers council's wider test.
Tree removal permits in Toronto
Name the tree
Council won't identify it for you before an application, so ask an arborist or take a sample to a nursery.
Run council's tool
The online Tree Removal or Tree Pruning Assessment Tool tells you whether an application is needed for the address.
Mark it and lodge
Tie ribbon or tape around the tree for the inspector. If you're lodging for the owner, as a tenant or agent, include council's Statement of Consent.
Council inspects
Council looks at the tree and decides whether the work is necessary and appropriate. For waterfront trees, ask early whether a flora and fauna assessment is needed.
Tree safety in Toronto
Stay clear of split limbs and leaning trees, and well back from any fallen wire: Ausgrid says at least 8 metres, and faults go to Ausgrid. If a tree has landed on the house or blocked the way out, ring the NSW SES. Anyone hurt, call 000.
Hiring an arborist in Toronto
Before collecting quotes, we'd ring council's Tree Preservation Officer and ask two things: is the tree, or the row it stands in, on the current register, and does being this close to the lake mean a flora and fauna assessment? Those answers tell you if it's a quick application or a long one, and an arborist can quote properly once you know.