Unauthorised pruning or removal of trees is an offence under local laws with fines of up to $5000.
Offenders may also be responsible for replacement and establishment costs.
“It’s a crime at the end of the day,” Trott said.
“It is taxpayer money getting wasted, and I think they should be prosecuted.
“Hopefully [the council] will persist and hopefully, whichever idiot who’s doing it will stop.”
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Cameron Bell, who also lives adjacent to the park, expressed his disappointment and also speculated as to the motive of the alleged repeat offender.
“I’m assuming people who have a view, an ocean view, are thinking, I’m going to lose my ocean view,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, it’s not their park and when you buy here, you buy knowing there’s a park in front.”
City of Joondalup Mayor Albert Jacob said if whoever was cutting down the trees to improve their views, “they’re an idiot”.
“The trees that are already here are growing 10 to 20 meters, the trees they’re cutting down are paper barks and bottle brushes which at most grow to five meters,” he said.
Jacob said criticism connecting loss of ocean views to decreasing house values were invalid – as leafy green spaces were known to increase suburb desirability and value.
He also said the city “unashamedly” had the most aggressive tree canopy target in WA.
“We are determined to plant [trees] ... the council is united on it,” he said.
“The only way you end up with a leafy city is if a local government at a point in time says we’re going to aggressively plant trees and keep them here for the next generation.”
City of Joondalup deputy mayor Adrian Hill said the city had not received any complaints from residents about the planting of the trees.
“People who vandalise trees are causing a loss of amenity and extra costs for our community by destroying community assets, which need to be replaced,” he said.
The city will assess the damaged trees, plant replacement trees, and write to nearby land owners asking for support to identify and catch the culprits and report offending to police.
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