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[linnie]

Hi all and thank you in advance for any advice you can offer. We are located in Perth WA.

Our complex has a large gum tree on common property that has been well maintained and pruned (2015) and to the best of our knowledge poses no threat.

Our local council values mature trees and is working towards a tree canopy policy although nothing is in place at this time.

Our CoO added removing this tree to the budget which was approved at our recent AGM, although no reasons can be found in the minutes of CoO meetings. 

 If independent recommendation was given by qualified arborists I would accept their professional advice – however I believe the CoO want the tree removed because it is messy during the few weeks a year when it sheds bark.

I have emailed our local council and contacted out local Urban Tree Network. I have also contacted a local environmental group who are supportive of our effort to delay the removal of this tree until we have more information, however I am very concerned the CoO will act without respect for due process.

Is there any immediate course of action we can take to delay the removal of this tree? I am happy to do the work if you can point me in the right direction.

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[Sir Humphrey]

We had the mirror image situation here in the ACT. The committee wanted to keep a large tree that a unit owner was lobbying hard to remove. 

First, find out if the tree is a ‘regulated’ tree (or similar term). In the ACT any tree over 12m or more than some particular girth is automatically a ‘regulated’ tree and permission to remove it is required from the local government. You might have something similar. 

Any owner can put a motion on the agenda with enough notice. Put a motion that the tree not be removed unless local council permit it and two arborists say that it is unsafe in a way that cannot be remedied. 

Alternatively, if removing the tree is only put as one item of the budget motion, round up people who will only pass the budget after an amendment to remove that line of the budget.

You could apply to your equivalent of the Civil and Administrative Tribunals of other states for an urgent stop order until the matter has been put to a general meeting with sufficient time for parties to gather the requisite information. My experience of the Tribunal in the ACT is that it is keen to seen matters such as this fully aired at a general meeting and opportunity given for the democratic process to decide the matter before it imposes a decision. 

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[linnie]

Thank you for your prompt reply Sir Humphrey.

We have investigated registering the tree as a ‘significant’ tree (probably similar to your ACT version of ‘regulated’ tree) however this process needs representatives from Strata management/council to sign (the very people that want it removed).

The tree has also been trimmed and a consideration for approval requires trees to be ‘complete and sound and have never been pruned’.

Other local councils here in Perth are taking steps to develop urban canopy and urban forest policies but this will come far to late for our tree.

Owner apathy is rife in the complex and most are rentals so it is difficult to contact owners.

We have come up with another idea but I will post that as a separate question as there are subtle differences.

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[SofiaMagnus]

Hi there! We also had the same situation few days back. We had a large tree that is causing trouble. So, our committee had decided to remove that large tree. Tree removal is a very complicated and difficult home improvement task. For removing the large tree in our committee had decided to hire a professional who will take the removing process in a better manner. By searching online, we got to know about Gardening NorthSide for removing the tree.

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[Author]

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