Old friend must fall to make way for renovated Centennial Square

Large redwood tree growing in Douglas to fall victim to City Hall Square revitalization

In a city that loves its trees, another favorite is about to disappear to make way for downtown infrastructure improvements. Given the species’ propensity for enormous growth and longevity, whoever planted the great redwood on what was then Cormorant Street did so apparently as an afterthought to the modernist design of the civic square in 1964.

The name “sequoia” was coined in 1847 by Stephen L. Endlicher, an Austrian linguist and botanist who was director of the Vienna Botanical Garden. Endlicher used the word to describe the genus of the plant, but also to honor Sequoyah, the man who created the written form or syllabary of the Cherokee language.

Tree lover Gregg Keop has mapped the location of a number of giant sequoias in the state of Victoria. Perhaps because of its relatively small size, the tree in question does not appear on his interactive site.

Derrick Newman, Victoria’s new director of parks, recreation and facilities, confirmed to council that the project before him “could not be done with the tree in place.”

“The wrong tree for the wrong space”

“It’s a case of it being the wrong tree for the wrong space,” he said, referring to the sandy soil it was planted in and its position on the asphalt that was once Cormorant.

Already a landmark, Victoria city councillors unanimously approved the park design on July 4, which they hope will create a new, vital, functional, inclusive and multi-use space where it is sorely needed.

For this to happen, the redwood must disappear.

The tree is planted on a raised green space and its root system “grows toward utilities, including a BC Hydro vault, numerous power lines, telecommunications and a water main under the plaza,” Newman said. Any attempt to level the space to make it more accessible “will impact the health of the tree and interfere with infrastructure,” he said.

Addition by subtraction

Tree felling also has a functional consideration.

For the designers, the removal of the tree represents an important element of crime prevention through environmental design (CPEE) in the project.

“Safety is a major concern for the city, and one of the biggest challenges is visibility. If you can’t see all the way to the centre of the square, you don’t know what’s going on,” said Jill Robinson, principal and landscape architect at DIALOG Design, the Vancouver firm that won the $750,000 contract to redesign the square.

Removing the redwood opens up a line of sight allowing a person standing on Douglas to see all the way to the center of the plaza.

Such a line of sight makes it easier for municipal officers and police to patrol and monitor Centennial Park and can deter people from engaging in illegal activities.

It is not the first tree in the region to meet a notable end.

For some, the tree’s removal will not be welcomed. Victoria’s tree lovers have already lost other important “friends” in recent years.

Only about 200 of the 600 London plane trees planted in 1921 along Shelbourne from PKOLS Park to the bay remain to commemorate the deaths of Greater Victoria’s soldiers who died in the Second World War.

In 2012, one of the last original trees growing along Dallas’ Ogden Point strip was cut down by developers.

The iconic “windswept” chestnut tree, affectionately called the Narnia tree or Harry Potter tree by residents, was cut down in 2019 to make way for a new bike path and sewer line along Dallas.

In April, Oak Bay residents gathered along Beach Drive to pay their respects to an iconic oak tree near the marina.

He will be replaced 14 times

The Centennial Plaza redwood will not be replaced with a more species-appropriate option, however, a number of new trees will be planted in the new plaza.

“We will be planting a new tree box and a formal collection of urban-scale street trees that will not block the view,” Robinson said.

The designers “optimize the environment for the addition of 14 new trees in this one location by providing planting and soil cells that allow us to improve the growing conditions for these trees at an urban scale, but also protect the important infrastructure that is in the area that is currently in conflict with the existing redwood,” Robinson said.

Hammond reaches out to a tree…in vain

Councillor Stephen Hammond, who revealed he had a lengthy and costly personal experience with a horse chestnut tree on his own property, has hit the headlines about the possibilities of saving the tree.

When asked what would happen to the tree if the park revitalization project did not move forward, the city’s Newman explained that while the city would continue to monitor the tree’s health, its root systems posed a threat to BC Hydro and its demise was a foregone conclusion.