Langley woman pleads for break on $49K fines after felling 11 trees

A Langley woman who said she is facing fines of about $49,000 for cutting down a number of trees on her property without a permit asked the Township council to [...]

Langley woman pleads for break on $49K fines after felling 11 trees Published 5:00 am Wednesday, July 15, 2026 A Langley woman who said she is facing fines of about $49,000 for cutting down a number of trees on her property without a permit asked the Township council to give her a break on Monday, July 13. Li Cheung Yeh appeared as a delegate and said that the issue began on Jan. 4 of this year, when her husband went into the back yard and found a tree had fallen at a 45 degree angle.

It had caught in the branches of another tree, but was over a home on their property, Yeh said. After getting a permit from the Township to remove a dangerous tree, they had to wait as the tree removal company told them they needed to wait until the ground was harder so they could move a machine onto the property. It wasn’t until June that the tree was finally removed, she said.

Yeh indicated she and her husband rented a machine on their own to remove the tree. They then removed several other trees they considered hazards. Yeh indicated she and her husband cut down two cedar trees that were just five feet from her house, a rotten cottonwood, and seven more cottonwoods that were between her home and her neighbour’s house, because if those trees had fallen they would have hit her house, her neighbour’s home, or dropped branches in the family’s swimming pool.

In total, she said she cut down 11 trees without a permit. She indicated she was facing a fine of about $49,000 from the Township. The Township’s tree protection bylaw can lead to charges of up to $10,500 per tree.

It was designed to prevent landowners in suburban areas from taking out many or all of the trees on their properties. Langley Township was one of the last Lower Mainland municipalities to institute a tree protection bylaw, after years of debate, in 2019. Yeh asked for relief from the fines, saying her property is heavily covered with trees.

She said she already asked Township staff if she could replace the trees rather than pay a fine, but was turned down. She argued that she has many trees on her property, including a host she has planted herself over the last decade. “I planted more than 200 trees on my property,” Yeh said.

The council voted 8-1 in favour of having staff meet with Yeh and her husband to clarify the situation. “It’s clear there was a permit issued, and the question becomes, how many trees were covered, and the understanding,” said Councillor Kim Richter.