Charges after Charleswood trees cut down

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This article was published 06/08/2021 (1140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Residents of Winnipeg’s Charleswood neighbourhood woke up Saturday morning to what many described as a heartbreaking scene: a street littered with debris and felled trees, allegedly cut down by a moving company after a house being trucked out of the city became stuck on Roblin Boulevard.

Now, one man is facing criminal charges, and Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood Coun. Kevin Klein is vowing to ensure that those who cut the trees on city property will be held fully responsible for the damage.

“I can’t imagine how anyone felt they had the right to cut down trees, mature trees, on a city boulevard,” Klein said, in a phone call with the Free Press on Saturday afternoon. “Not only that they felt they had the right, but they had the audacity to do it. To me, it’s unfathomable.”

The incident appears to have begun at around 3 a.m. when a building moving company began to move a display home from near the corner of Roblin Boulevard and Scotswood Drive. The move apparently went awry after the home proved too wide for that section of Roblin, and butted into the tree-lined boulevard.

Some Charleswood residents reported being awoken shortly before 5 a.m. by the sound of chainsaws.

By the time one resident, Mike — who did not want his last name used — went out to get a coffee at around 8 a.m., he discovered that police had blocked off the westbound lanes of Roblin starting at Berkley Street. Further up the road, he could see the house jutting over the boulevard, beside a row of downed trees.

“I’m not impressed,” Mike said. “It was about a year ago on that portion of Roblin that everything was up for construction, the road, the medians. So after almost six months of construction and getting the road back, to see that, it was definitely a little disheartening.”

At least a dozen trees on Roblin between Scotswood and the Perimeter were felled, Klein estimated.

The incident left debris all over the street. As residents woke to the news, many took to social media to vent their frustration, calling the destruction “a disaster” and an “absolutely vile” disregard for the neighbourhood. Some wrote that they felt sickened by the loss of the trees.

“If I’m being honest, it looks like a tornado went through here,” said Athanasia Panos, who has lived in the area for over a decade. “There’s debris on the ground. They didn’t clean it up yet or anything. They could have asked the residents how we felt about it, before you go and cut down a bunch of trees.”

According to Winnipeg police, a building moving company had obtained a permit to move the house outside the city. While the dimensions of the load approved by the permit were correct, police said the company had failed to confirm the route was accessible by the load, as required by the permit.

An adult male associated with the company was arrested and charged with mischief over $5,000.

A city of Winnipeg spokeswoman said the city would have no further details on Saturday.

Photos from the scene showed a truck belonging to Kola Building Movers Ltd. was on site. As of Saturday afternoon there was no answer at two phone numbers linked to the business, which is based out of Austin, Man., and voicemail messages left by the Free Press had not been returned.

For now, Klein has vowed to see that the felled trees are replaced as soon as possible, paid for by ward funds if necessary: “I’m not going to wait and get tied up in red tape,” he said. He also said he will fight to ensure the company is held fully responsible, and that residents get answers.

“It’s unacceptable that this happened,” Klein said. “I intend to keep pushing for more information on this. I’m not going to let this die. Just because the person’s been charged, that’s not enough for me.”

 

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca