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Trees can pose a serious threat to property

The cypress/juniper hedge blocking the sidewalk at the McCutcheon residence should be removed

The cypress/juniper hedge blocking the sidewalk at the McCutcheon residence (Oak Bay News Nov. 7) illustrates things many people are ignorant of, besides the decency of not blocking sidewalks.

Trees grow, especially quickly here on the wet coast, despite what environmental activists infer.

Those ones really should be removed, then new ones can be planted further back from the sidewalk -– in a few years they’ll be an ample hedge.

People often plant too close to fences, driveways, streets, and buildings – they don’t think ahead, so have to remove the trees later.

Meanwhile the folly of keeping trees was demonstrated in the recent windstorms, a neighbour’s tree almost took out windows in a friend’s house. The tree had been topped years ago – that’s another horticulture lesson for property owners, trees will grow multiple new tops but they are weak. In recent years at least one elderly person living alone has had water through the roof in the middle of the night as a tree punctured it.

Folks, you have to think ahead, otherwise you’ll be redoing the job later – but at higher cost due to  interference from the collective who require consultants and permits. (Voters don’t think ahead either.)

Keith Sketchley

Saanich