The big trees on Fifth Street just can’t go, a group of Sidney residents say.
Helen Lang and Diana Gough told Sidney’s mayor and council this week that the row of large Norway spruce at the corner of Fifth Street and Oakville Avenue should stay put, despite an approved four-unit development that will mean removing them.
“Every time I scooted past those trees, I was thinking, they can’t take down those trees,” Gough said. “Surely those big trees can be saved.”
Lang recently wrote in her Over the Garden Fence column in the News Review that she hopes other residents will help protest the trees’ removal.
Randy Humble, director of development services, said with approval of the development sealed on Oct. 24, the trees will come out.
“Indeed we’d like to preserve the trees, but there’s just no way with the development being approved we could preserve them.”
He added the trees were likely installed as a buffer against traffic noise.
Sign bylaws out of date
After a Sidney Street business circumvented the rules, the town is taking another look at its outdated sign bylaws.
The Investment Planning Counsel at 2480 Beacon Ave. has both a fascia sign and a sign on an awning. According to bylaws, a business can only have one or the other. The business applied for a variance permit to allow both types of signs.
Coun. Jeannette Hughes said the current bylaws “are quite restricting to what (businesses) can do.”
Council will review the bylaws in the new year.
editor@peninsulanewsreview.com