Boulevard maintenance
Residents are responsible for maintaining any trees, bushes and hedges at the edge of their properties to improve driver, cyclist and pedestrian safety.
If a property owner neglects to respond to a request from our Traffic Operations team, the District may remove or trim the vegetation.
Visibility at intersections
Sightline visibility at intersections is critical. Plantings at intersection locations should be no taller than 1 metre, measured from the road surface.
The image below shows a corner where intersection visibility is restricted by vegetation. In this case, the driver would have a difficult time stopping if a pedestrian decided to step out from the sidewalk.
In these situations, we ask property owners to have the landscaping removed or otherwise altered so that it does not block visibility and is in accordance with the Street and Traffic Bylaw boulevard maintenance guidelines.
Vegetation overgrowing sidewalks
Hedges should be trimmed to 0.5 meters behind the sidewalk.
The image below shows restricted pedestrian access due to overgrown vegetation.
Signs
Hedges, trees, or any vegetation must not impede the visibility of traffic signs. Homeowners must trim vegetation so that the stop sign can be seen by a car approaching the sign from at least three properties away to allow a driver sufficient time to stop.
Below shows a couple of examples where a stop sign has impeded visibility.
Hedge
Tree branches
Fire hydrants
We ask residents to trim their hedges around fire hydrants 1 metre in every direction. This allows firefighters easy access to locate and connect their equipment during an emergency.
Below shows an example where a hedge impedes easy access to the fire hydrant.