MEGAN McOnie pointed to the dozen or so tree stumps in front of her Kyle Bay house, still trying to work out why Kogarah Council butchered her front garden.
She said there was no warning before four council workers arrived to cut down the trees. Four more then arrived for the clean-up.
‘‘They left it ugly and unsafe,’’ she said. ‘‘And I want to know why.’’
Ms McOnie, a former psychotherapist, has owned the Boronia Street house for 30 years, during which time she surrounded it with a garden.
The front fence was recessed so she could could create a feature garden facing the nature strip and road.
While it partly encroached on the council-managed nature strip, she said the wide strip had many mature trees, shrubs and an ornamental garden or two.
She said the tropical garden, including a layer of palm trees underplanted with a variety of tropical plants and grasses, looked beautiful.
‘‘I planted it for people to see and enjoy,’’ she said.
Due to personal circumstances Ms McOnie has been unable to live in her home for the past year but visited regularly to check on it.
It was during one such visit recently that she saw the damage and was told by one of the neighbours about the council workers.
It had happened once before, Ms McOnie said; also without warning.
A few years ago the garden was thriving beautifully and had included a self-seeded mulberry tree, which was popular among the jam makers in the street when ‘‘council workers came and chopped it down’’, she said.
‘‘I said to one of them ‘you cut down my garden’ and he said ‘yes, and we can do it again’.’’
Ms McOnie has kept a Leader clipping about Blakehurst resident Albert Mikhail, who ended up with $11,000 in fines and legal costs for cutting down a tree branch in front of his house.
At the time, a council spokeswoman defended the hefty fines saying ‘‘trees provide many environmental, functional, cultural, health and aesthetic benefits’’. ‘‘They have a positive impact on the quality of water and air, can counteract the global ‘greenhouse effect’ and they can significantly reduce stormwater runoff,’’ the spokeswoman said.
‘‘Not only does removing or pruning healthy trees from the local environment upset the balance of the natural ecosystem, it also can cause stress for our local community.
‘‘Council believes strongly in preserving our highly valued urban tree canopy as a major element in our local environment.’’
‘‘So why did they cut down my trees?’’ Ms McOnie asked.
COUNCIL RESPONSE
A council spokeswoman said the council ‘‘undertook work to remove overgrown vegetation on the nature strip in front of 37 Boronia Street, Kyle Bay’’.
‘‘The vegetation was impacting on safe vehicle movements,’’ she said.
Should the council have cut down the garden?
