Tree Removal in Bellwood, IL

Bellwood is one of the few villages in west Cook County that will fine a homeowner $500 per tree for taking one down without a permit — and it counts each tree as a separate offense. Almost every tree removal Bellwood regulates therefore begins with a question about paperwork rather than about the tree, so we tell you whether a permit is needed before we quote a number, because the answer changes the job.

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What Bellwood’s Tree Ordinance Actually Says

Chapter 100 of the village code covers tree preservation. Section 100.003(A) makes it unlawful to undertake any regulated activity without a valid tree permit issued by the Comptroller. Section 100.002 sets what counts as regulated: a single tree of four inches trunk diameter or greater, a multi-stem tree with an aggregate diameter of eight inches or more at breast height, or an evergreen five vertical feet or taller.

Two exceptions matter. Routine pruning by the property owner is exempt if it complies with ANSI A300 — the same pruning standard we work to, and one the ISA explains in plain terms for homeowners. And a genuine tree emergency is exempt. Everything else needs the permit first.

Addison Creek, And Why It Shows Up In Our Bellwood Work

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is building a flood storage reservoir of nearly 20 million gallons in Bellwood, just north of Washington Boulevard, to reduce overbank damage to 1,679 structures along Addison Creek. That gives you the shape of the problem here: repeated saturation along the creek corridor, and root plates that have been sitting in wet ground for decades.

Saturated soil is how a tree that looked fine in June ends up on a garage in August. When the ground gives before the wood does, the whole root plate lifts. If you have a large tree near the creek and the ground around its base has started to heave or crack, that is the call to make sooner rather than later.

The Village Trims Parkway Trees. We Do The Rest.

Bellwood Public Works trims parkway trees year-round and the village arborist will examine a tree you think is dead or diseased — Street Division, 708-547-3540. That is village work on village trees, and we do not get in the way of it.

What we handle is everything on your side of the sidewalk: removals, trimming, deadwood out of mature trees, stump grinding, and storm work. The village notes that when a contractor cuts a tree down, the contractor is responsible for removing it. So a tree removal Bellwood has signed off on finishes the way it should: we haul everything, wood and brush both, and leave nothing at the curb for anyone else to argue about.

What We Do In Bellwood

• Tree and bush removal — rigged down in sections on the narrower lots south of the Union Pacific yards, felled where there is room
• Trimming and pruning to ANSI A300, which is also the standard the ordinance exempts
• Stump grinding, four to eight inches below grade, deeper if you are replanting
• Lot clearing for back corners that have gone to brush
• Storm response, 24 hours a day

Get A Tree Removal Bellwood Estimate

Tell us the address and what the tree is doing. We will tell you whether Chapter 100 applies to it before we give you a number, not after. Estimates are free, any day of the week.

Call 708-424-5885 or see the rest of our Cook County service area. Neighboring work: Maywood, Melrose Park.