Tree Removal in Calumet Park, IL

In September 1960 Calumet Park passed an ordinance that is still the operative rule here. Section 90.63(A) declares that all trees between the pavement and the sidewalk in dedicated parkways, and all trees on any village-owned property, are “community trees.” Not village trees, not public trees — community trees. Sixty-five years later that language is still in the code, and it still governs any tree removal Calumet Park parkways come to need.

Section 90.63(B) is the part that matters when you want one gone. “No person shall cut down any community tree within the Village of Calumet Park without first obtaining permission to do so from the Board of Trustees.” The elected board, not a department head.

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Thirty Days On A Dead Tree

Section 90.63(C) gives an owner thirty days after written notice to remove a dead or diseased tree. Then it says something worth reading twice: “each day over the thirtieth day shall be a separate violation.” Not a single fine — a fine that compounds daily. Under 90.63(D), the village may remove the tree at the owner’s expense and place a lien. That daily clock is what turns a tree removal Calumet Park owners were putting off into this week’s job.

Section 92.01(D) restricts what may sit on village-owned parkway land to grass, bushes, shrubs, flowers, trees, decorative rock and fences. Under 92.01(C), failing to clear parkway weeds or noxious matter within seven days of notice draws fines up to $500 per day.

Obama Drive, And A Village On The River

In 2010 Mayor Joseph DuPar and the village board renamed 127th Street as Obama Drive — the first Obama Drive in the country. Calumet Park sits in Calumet Township, not Thornton like most of its neighbors. It runs 1.12 square miles, with the Calumet River as its southern border and the Cal-Sag Channel nearby. The village was incorporated in 1912 and grew through a post-war boom of small brick houses after I-57 went through. Population peaked at 10,069 in 1970.

Flooding hits the western part of the village around Winchester and Lincoln. It also reaches the east side of I-57 beyond Ashland Avenue, Veterans Park, the South Throop Street industrial district, and the green alley between Justine and Laflin. About twenty-six acres sit in the floodplain, with zero FEMA repetitive-loss properties.

Small brick post-war houses on narrow lots mean limited root run. Trees planted in those parkways in the fifties are now large trees in a strip a few feet wide. A sidewalk sits on one side and a curb on the other. Root plates in that situation lift pavement long before the tree itself shows any distress. Half the tree removal Calumet Park owners end up paying for begins as a lifted walk rather than a dead crown. The Morton Arboretum keeps species notes worth reading before anything goes back into a strip that narrow.

Large Wood Is A Special Pickup

Section 52.08 covers placement of branches, trees and logs. Anything difficult to handle requires a special pickup at the owner’s expense, and may not be placed in the alley until that has been arranged. Public Works may waive the fee where the burden resulted from an act of nature or an unforeseen circumstance.

Our work never uses that route. What we cut goes on our truck, which saves you both the arrangement and the fee.

Tree Removal In Calumet Park: What We Do

• Removals on private property, with all wood and brush hauled off
• Trimming and deadwood removal on mature post-war stock
• Stump grinding, including roots lifting walks and drives
• Commercial work in the South Throop industrial district
• Storm response, 24 hours

What Tree Removal Calumet Park Costs

Address and what the tree is doing. If it is between the pavement and the sidewalk, it is a community tree and the Board decides. We will tell you that before we quote, not after. Public Works, 708-600-1640.

708-424-5885 · Cook County service area · nearby: Blue Island, Riverdale.