Part 3 - TO TREE OR NOT TO TREE - WHAT IS THE QUESTION?

By Harold G. LeBoeuf

Question 1:
Do you think that any of the workers for Belmont Excavation are certified, trained arborists?

Question 2:
Do you think that Belmont Excavation is a registered corporation or business in the Province of Ontario?

The answer to both questions is “No!”, but the second question requires an in depth explanation and doesn’t mean that there isn’t a legal corporation behind the work being completed in the Park. That explanation will take up several Parts which will follow in due course.

On December 4^th, 2013, I caused correspondence to be sent to the Minister at the Provincial Ministry of the Environment requesting that his Ministry get involved with the proposed project at Willistead Park. The request specifically was for the Ministry to conduct an Environmental Assessment. The matter was referred to Mr. Archie Parastatidis, Senior Environmental Officer for the MOE in the Windsor Area Office. This gentleman (and he truly is a good person) contacted John Miceli at the Windsor Department of Parks and Recreation. After lengthy conversations between the two, Mr. Parastatidis sent me an e-mail, the content of which I will set out completely here because it contains specific information given to the Ministy by Miceli which totally contradicts facts that Miceli presented to the public forums and to the Mayor and the members of City Council. He writes the following: 

In response, the proponent of the project described in your December 4th, 2013 e-mail is the City of Windsor. Municipal undertakings, if applicable, follow the Municipal Engineers Association Municipal Class EA (Environmental Assessment) planning process. The Municipal Class EA itself includes a series of Schedules that identify municipal projects subject to the Municipal Class EA. The Municipal Class EA process is a self-assessment process. In all situations where the Municipal Class EA process is applicable to a project, it is the responsibility of the proponent, in this case the City of Windsor, to ensure that the planning process as set out in the Class EA document is undertaken. It would appear that the City of Windsor, as proponent of this project, has determined that this project does not fit any of the projects identified in the Municipal Class EA. This Ministry’s Southwest Region EA Coordinator has reviewed the aforementioned Schedules, and the City’s project as described in your e-mail, and has advised that there is no basis to challenge the City’s interpretation that the Municipal Class EA does not apply to this project.

Municipal Projects that are not subject to the Municipal Class EA would be subject to an Individual Assessment if not exempted by section 5 (2)(a) of Regulation 334, made under the Environmental Assessment Act. Section 5 (2)(a) exempts an undertaking by a municipality if the estimated cost of the project does not exceed  3.5 million dollars. The City has advised this ministry that the estimated cost of the 200mm sewer installation is $225,000 and the estimated cost of the asphalt path and sub-drain is $235,000 for a total estimated cost of $460,000.00. (emphasis mine) As such the project is captured by the exemption afforded by section 5 (2)(a).

Based upon the foregoing, the City’s project as described in your December 4^th, 2013 is not subject to the preparation of a Class Environmental Assessment, no an Individual Environmental Assessment.

Yours truly,

Archie Parastatidis

Senior Environmental Officer

MOE Windsor Area Office.  

And here I thought that only lawyers were capable of writing such gobbledygook!

In reply to this I wrote back the following: 

Forgive me if I seem confused, but your reply definitely seems to indicate that nothing can or will be done, and the City of Windsor is free to carry out its plans for Willistead Park, and freely go about destroying one-of-a-kind trees in this City and several precious varieties with abandon, and destroy the fauna and habitat for small animals and birds. I honestly thought that our Province had taken a position a long time ago with respect to this kind of damage to our environment, and I am greatly disturbed that your office feels that such an undertaking can be completed with impunity.

I will be reviewing your information with my clients, and I believe that we will proceed with the appropriate Court Action to test the City’s ability to proceed with this type of destruction. If those instructions are received, you will be subpoenaed to give evidence.

Yours truly,

Harold  G. LeBoeuf

Barrister and Solicitor.

Hopefully that letter is somewhat easier for you to read!

I had several conversations with Mr. Parastatidis after that letter, and I truly found him to be an honest and extremely helpful individual. He agreed to be a witness is required and offered any other assistance he could.

I have told you that information because it is important to the cause. Firstly, note that Miceli told the officer that the cost of the project was estimated at $460,000.00 with $225,000.00 being for the sewer and $235,000.00 for the asphalt paths and sub-drain. If you had occasion to attend any of the public forums at the Manor, and/or attended the City Council meetings where the project was discussed, you know with certainty that these figures and that breakdown was never presented on any of these occasions. The truth is that these figures to this day have never been mentioned by Miceli to anyone other than the MOE officer. WHY?  Now you know from whence I approximated the total cost of the project to be a half a million dollars. I approximated the cost of the electrical stations and pathway lighting and, I must confess, I was probably far too low in my guesstimate. The Department of Parks and Recreation and its director, Mr. Miceli, is the topic of a future installment.

Now about the trees. If you go to the website for Willistead Park, a site that has been updated to include the proposed pathways, you will learn that “The property surrounding Willistead Manor, appropriately name Willistead Park, contains over 300 trees, including Windsor’s only persimmon, a tree native to the southern United States. As well, the park boasts a rare Shumard Oak, several Kentucky coffee trees, London Plane, Chestnut, European Elm and a Tree of Heaven. In the secluded shade of Willistead Manor courtyard garden, visitors can experience the elegance of a true English garden in the Paul Martin Gardens. Lustrous shades of green are reflected in a number of different shrubs, including Oregon Grape, laurel, euonymus, and shiny leafed mahonia. Hot pink, white and red impatiens add sparkle to this quiet, peaceful area.”

I challenge you to try to visit the Paul Martin Garden. You simply cannot. I have had visitors in the park ask me why on earth can’t they go into the garden when it is advertised for visitors. Well, that’s a question for the Board of Willistead Manor. But, I did ask that question to a member of the Board at one of the public meetings and she told me, “We have to keep it locked at all times because of vandalism.”

If you don’t already know, the City’s contractor is preparing to cut down trees that are in the way of the proposed pathways. I watched two members associated with the contractor last Friday (perhaps some of you did as well). They were walking the proposed pathways and marking the trees that had to be cut down. Now I don’t believe that either of these gentlemen are certified arborists because I have seen them doing excavation work and work for the electrical stations. How then do they know which is the rare persimmon, which is the rare Shumard Oak, Kentucky coffee trees, London Plane, Chestnut, European Elm or the Tree of Heaven. I’m betting that they don’t know and probably don’t care. If it’s in the way of the pathways, then they go.

In fairness, the European Elms have long since been decimated by the Dutch Elm disease. What about the others? Who is going to protect such rare trees? It appears that no one is. I don’t know one tree from another (well, I know the oak trees and the fir trees) and I am not a trained arborist.

What on earth are they doing to such a once in a lifetime historical Heritage Park?  Why are they doing it? Is it sufficient to say that the pathways are required to benefit Art in the Park so that the Rotary Club will donate more money for the care, maintenance, repairs and restoration of the Manor? If you attended the first public meeting, then you will recall that the Director of Art In The Park rose to his feet and took umbrage at my suggestion that the event be moved to the river front (which the Rotary Club threatened to do just a few short years ago) or to the Ford Test Track where there is already an abundance of asphalt roadways that would more than suit its purpose. He said, “We were never consulted about these changes and we absolutely don’t need the changes for Art In The Park”. The media attending still have the video tape of him saying that. That statement is a far cry from what you heard the Rotary Club tell City Council on the fateful day Council made its decision.

So I ask again, Mr. Mayor, Councillors, Members of the Board of Willistead, what on earth are you thinking?

Please post your thoughts below.