The City of Weyburn has recently made changes to the Urban Forestry bylaw. The changes, passed at city council last Monday, are the first updates to the bylaw in 30 years.

A number of the changes made were based on a report submitted by Linda Prokott, the parks coordinator for the City of Weyburn.

“There is a lot of changes to the language, the authority of the bylaw, and we’ve also made some other changes in there,” explained Prokott.

The language has been updated to reflect present-day terms, as well as current job titles. The authority was also extended to the superintendent of public works and parks, as well as the bylaw enforcement officer.

The preservation of trees policy was also incorporated into the bylaw. Prokott said this does make it easier having everything included in the single document.

One key change which has the potential to eliminate red tape concerns the removal of trees by homeowners, which are located on city easements. Prokott stated before, everything would need to go through Weyburn City Council before a tree could be removed.

“Now, that’s been changed that the Parks department can approve or deny those requests and that just speeds the process up.”

A decision can still be appealed to Weyburn City Council, however.

Tatagwa Parkway was also added to the bylaw in terms of trees and shrubs along it having the same protections as trees on other public lands. The parkway is an urban conservation area within the city and is already considered public land.

The changes to the bylaw took effect when it was passed last Monday.