Holyrood amends wood cutting policy

By Mark Squibb / August 4, 2023

Requests to cut wood on private property in Holyrood will now be handled directly by council’s Planning and Development committee.

Public works committee chairman Steve Winsor noted during last week’s public council meeting that the policy had been amended to address only Town-owned property.

All requests to cut wood on private property will now fall to planning and development as part of its review of site preparation for developments.

“The other thing we discussed was the importance of consistency and standardization,” said Winsor. “What we don’t want to have happen is for different applicants to come forward and get different answers, and sometimes very unintentionally. And that has happened in the past, but the past is the past and we’re moving forward, and we want everyone to have the same answer when they come forward with an application. Sometimes they might not like the answer, but they understand that we have an established process.”

He added that process can be revised in the future if need be.

Mayor Gary Goobie noted that if somebody wants to cut firewood on their own property, those requests will now be handled by planning and development as well.