An Oakwood Village homeowner is alleging chainsaw-wielding developers tried to cut down a tree on private property without his permission.Ian Pearson tells CityNews Modcity, a development company accused of cutting down trees at multiple properties across Toronto, had workers come to his property and try to cut down his tree.“There were guys with chainsaws back here and they had taken out two sections of my fence,” said Pearson. “The property owner had told them that the property line was on the other side of this tree, that I had built my fence into his property, and that it was his tree and he was cutting it down.”Pearson said Modcity bought the house behind him with plans for a major redevelopment. Before they even had a permit to build at the address on Glenholme Avenue, workers were hacking down the tree at the corner of Pearson’s property.“There were guys up here in the tree with harnesses and they were taking off branches not only on the property owner’s side but on my side because the objective was to bring down the whole tree.”At the time, Pearson and his wife were both away. His friend Mike was house sitting for him, and confronted the Modcity workers.“If he hadn’t been here, I would have come back to ‘Where the F is my tree?’ Right?”Modcity has applied for a fourplex and a garden suite on the neighbouring property but Pearson said his tree is in the way.“Their garden suite plan basically has them digging down four feet into the protection zone to build the garden suite … it’s on their survey, they know what they’re doing. They just figure one way or another, they’re going make it happen. Regardless of what the laws are or anything else.”The maximum fine for cutting down a mature tree in Toronto is $100,000. The city confirms that they have three active investigations into Modcity for cutting down trees at other properties.“I wanna see those fines actually laid down right now on Modcity, I wanna see them enforce the rules that we have,” said city councillor Josh Matlow. “If a company doesn’t care about other people and their properties, they might care about their own wallets. So, it’s gotta hit ’em where it hurts.”Ron Sheinen, the principal of Modcity, was seen at the property in a photo taken by a neighbour. CityNews asked him to comment on the dispute over the tree and he said in a text message, “I am truly unsure of what you’re referencing,” and then unsent the message.“Well that’s typical of him right? That’s typical of him,” said Pearson. “He was here, yesterday morning right before they started doing this. I’m pretty sure he instructed them that as soon as the permit cleared that they were in there with a backhoe trying to take out the roots of the tree.”Pearson has now put a lock on that section of the fence, to try to prevent workers from removing it and accessing his property, in an effort to protect his tree.