LaSalle Council will consider the adoption of a tree planting policy for the town when they meet Tuesday evening.
The recommended policy would allow a resident to request that a tree be planted on the Town owned Right of Way.
With this proposal, the Town would purchase, plant, maintain and own the requested tree.
The intent of the policy is to introduce new trees to areas where street trees were not originally planted, or areas that would benefit from additional street trees.
Councillor Jeff Renaud says this is a really great move by administration.
"At this point, it's kind of self-funded, until we see how popular it is. I think they said in the first year we can put ten in this year, if people got a request in right away," he says.
Under the policy, the cutoff date for a tree request will be first week in September 2022, prior to annual planting. Any requests received after September would automatically be placed on a following years planting list.
The budget for this program for the remainder of the 2022 season will come from the annual operation budget for tree replacements currently in Public Works. It is anticipated that approximately 10 requests could be processed within the current budget for 2022, at an approximate cost of $5,000 or $500 a tree.
If it is popular, Renaud says the issue will go to 2023 Budget deliberations to seeking funding to continue the policy.
If you adding budget $5,000, $10,000 at a time, it's quite doable," he says. "You could be adding in the end, depending on budget restrictions, you could be adding 50 trees this. I think it's a great move by the Town."
Renaud expects this to be a popular policy, if it's approved.
"When people find out they can have a $100 tree put on their front lawn for free and help the ecological foot print of LaSalle, and really help us continue in the right direction, I think it is going to be popular," he adds.
Public works will monitor the volume of requests that come in, and if necessary, future increases in budget for the program will be requested through the budget process for 2023 and the future.
LaSalle Council meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12.