City Council approved updates to the City's Public Tree By-law at the June 23, 2025 meeting to introduce clearer rules and stronger protections for City-owned trees. This ensures our urban forest is safeguarded using modern practices and the policy aligns with our community’s needs.

Your feedback was instrumental in shaping these updates. We also consulted closely with various City departments to refine our approach. Here are some of the important changes we made:

• Expanded definitions and clearer terms to improve enforcement and consistency.
• Stronger tree protections including requirements and authority to issue orders for bylaw violations.
• Regulations for plantable spaces to ensure areas suitable for long-term tree growth are regulated.
• Updated the tree removal and compensation program to base compensation on tree diameter – and to have cash-in-lieu cover the full cost of establishing compensation trees, not just the replacement value of the removed tree.
• Revised tree planting standards to align with best practices for successful establishment.
• Increased and expanded fines under the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) to reflect the value of tree damage – and expand the number of fines for tree related infractions to help act as a deterrent.

These updates help us reach our tree canopy targets of 30% per ward by 2050 and 33% city-wide by 2070. They also promote a greener, healthier, more livable city.

This project is now closed

Thank you for helping us protect Kitchener’s trees and build a more sustainable future. The updated tree bylaws and information about the management of public trees can be found at www.kitchener.ca/trees

For future inquiries, contact the Forestry team at trees@kitchener.ca