At a meeting on Monday (July 7) at Killarney Community Centre, park-board commissioners will decide the fate of 70 trees in Queen Elizabeth Park.

Those facing the axe are mature trees deemed by the park’s supervisor, Alex Downie, to be blocking view corridors formerly enjoyed by the public on visits to the park. In his four-page report, Downie’s sole recommendation is to cut down “approximately” 70 trees—from six to 18 metres in height—and prune the branches of
eight more.

However, COPE commissioner Loretta Woodcock told the Straight, “If I had my way, I would leave it all.”

The two-term commissioner added that she is open to coming to a compromise with NPA commissioners Ian Robertson, Heather Holden, Marty Zlotnik, and board chair Korina Houghton. She said that fellow COPE commissioner Spencer Herbert will miss the meeting.

“If I present a position of absolutely no compromise whatsoever, they [the NPA commissioners] will say, ‘That’s fine, you have your position; we have ours,’ ” Woodcock said by phone. “Of all four of them, Ian [Robertson] seems to be the most amenable to looking at an option.…I am hoping that it goes 3–3 at least, or that they might decide that they will look at only opening one viewpoint and then they will go ahead with that idea.”

Woodcock said there are 80 species of birds that forage in the park. If trees must come down, she said, they should cut down the eight or so she counted that block the view at the Photo Session, an art installation that looks north toward downtown and Burrard Inlet.

Local resident and park-board employee Ned Jacobs, who has steadily gathered signatures on petitions opposed to the proposed cutting, told the Straight he could live with Woodcock’s position. But he added, “I think it’s a bad idea to cut any of the trees.”

At press time, Robertson told the Straight he hadn’t yet made up his mind on the fate of the trees, but that he was planning a meeting and walking tour with Downie.

“At this point in time, I am leaning toward supporting the staff recommendations,” Robertson said. “But I have still got a completely open mind on this.”