City looks to end practice of pre-development clearcutting just beyond urban growth boundary; Ottawa, Canada

'It's a bad practice developers should think twice about doing':
Councillors consider a bylaw to put an end to clearcutting just outside city's urban boundary
By Jake Rupert and Patrick Dare, The Ottawa CitizenMay 23, 2009
Landowners must be stopped from razing environmentally sensitive woodlots on the outskirts of Ottawa in the hope that bare land will stand a better chance of being approved for development, two influential city councillors say.
Councillor Rob Jellett represents Cumberland ward and chairs city council's rural-affairs committee, and Councillor Peter Hume represents Alta Vista and chairs the planning and environment committee. Both say in many cases recent and past, it's clear trees have been cut because landowners think without them the chances of land being approved for development by city council are better, or they are trying to avoid conservation rules and designations later in the municipal planning process.
'They do it because they think it betters the chance of getting to do what they want,' Hume said. 'It's a bad practice that developers should think twice about doing."