Dallas Road ‘Harry Potter’ tree cut down on Thursday

Tim Green
WatchCrews cut down the Dallas Road windswept tree on Aug. 1, 2019

A well-known tree on Dallas Road was removed Thursday by the City of Victoria to make room for a sewage pipe and a bike path.

The decades-old tree got its unusual shape after years of being hit by winter winds.

The tree was situated directly in the path of where the CRD’s “Clover Forcemain” will go. The pipe will transport wastewater from the Clover Point Pump Station to the McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant. It will run from Clover Point to Ogden Point, where it will connect to an undersea pipe linking to the treatment plant.

According to the City of Victoria, the horse chestnut was in declining health and 90 replacement trees will be planted along the waterfront when the pipe and bike path is complete.

The city has come under fire recently for removing, and considering the removal, of other prominent trees. In January, it removed a large Aspen tree at Humboldt and Government Street to make way for bike lanes and a scramble crosswalk.

More recently, a July 2019 staff report indicated that Centennial Square’s large Sequoia tree could potentially come down as part of Centennial Square upgrades. Despite renderings showing the tree’s removal, Mayor Helps and several council members told media the Sequoia would be staying put.

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