Arborist Report Clarington: Tree Permit Requirements & 2-Day Turnaround

Understanding Clarington’s Tree Rules

Clarington’s Woodlot Preservation By-law 97-35 has no city-wide diameter threshold. It protects trees by location instead: woodlots of 0.2 hectares or more, Environmental Protection-designated lands, and any tree within 120 metres of a mapped wetland. An individual tree on an ordinary residential lot outside those areas needs no municipal permit, at any trunk size.

Clarington is Durham Region’s largest municipality by area, spanning the urban centres of Bowmanville, Courtice, and Newcastle along with substantial rural and wooded land to the north. Properties with meaningful tree cover, or near a wetland, are worth checking against the bylaw’s triggers before assuming no permit applies.

When a Permit Is Required

A permit applies to a tree that is:

• Part of a woodlot of 0.2 hectares or more
• On Environmental Protection-designated land
• Within 120 metres of a mapped wetland

A standard residential lot outside all three categories needs no municipal permit for an ordinary tree.

Durham Region’s Overlay

Durham Region’s Woodland By-law 30-2020 applies on top of Clarington’s own rules. It covers woodlands of 1 hectare or more anywhere in the Region, including Clarington, independently of whether the property meets Clarington’s own 0.2 hectare woodlot threshold. A larger treed property can trigger the regional bylaw even where it also meets Clarington’s own local threshold.

Construction and Development Applications

Site plan approval, subdivision applications, and building permits can require a tree inventory and protection plan from the Municipality’s planning department, whether or not the property falls under By-law 97-35’s own categories. This runs alongside, not instead of, the woodlot bylaw’s own triggers.

How This Plays Out on a Real Project

Step 1: Assess the Treed Area

Before recommending a removal path, we assess whether the treed area on the property meets Clarington’s 0.2 hectare woodlot threshold, and check the property against Environmental Protection mapping and the 120 metre wetland buffer.

Step 2: Permit Application, If Triggered

If the property meets one of the three triggers, we prepare the woodlot assessment or Environmental Protection documentation Clarington’s reviewers expect.

Step 3: Durham Region Woodland Check

Independently of Clarington’s own threshold, we check whether the treed area meets the Region’s 1 hectare woodland threshold and prepare the separate documentation Durham Region’s forestry reviewers require if it does.

Step 4: Municipality or Region Review

Clarington reviews applications tied to its own woodlot, Environmental Protection, and wetland-buffer triggers. Durham Region reviews woodland permit applications separately.

Working with The Arborist Group

Clarington’s rural character means more properties than most GTA municipalities have a genuine treed area worth checking against the 0.2 hectare threshold, not just a handful of yard trees. We assess the treed area and its distance from mapped wetlands before any work begins, so a removal that looks routine from the driveway doesn’t turn into a bylaw problem once the woodlot or wetland buffer is checked.