Tree Service in Elmwood Park, IL

Elmwood Park does something unusual. It holds a bond on the tree service Elmwood Park residents hire until the debris is gone and the stump is out. Section 49A-11 requires a $250 bond filed with the village, refundable only on completion of the work. The code spells out that completion includes “hauling away of all debris and removal of stumps.” Section 49A-13 makes a site inspection a prerequisite to getting that bond back.

That is a village that has been burned before by contractors who left a mess.

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You Have To Be Licensed Here To Touch A Tree

Section 49A-10 of the village code is blunt about it. “It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation to engage in the business of trimming, treating, removing or otherwise dealing with trees without first having obtained a license.” Section 49A-12 sets the annual fee by reference to the landscaping service line in Section 29-11, which lists $50 per year. Section 49A-11 also requires evidence of public liability insurance.

On village trees, Section 49A-3 gives the Director of Public Works full authority to plant, prune, maintain and remove. It requires approval before anyone else does any of it. The Director must act within seven days of receiving a request. An approval is good for thirty days from the date it is granted. Section 49A-7 makes damaging or removing a public tree without written permission unlawful, with each violation a separate offense. It also requires the Director’s authorization before any topping. Between the license, the bond and the inspection, three separate things stand between a tree service Elmwood Park residents call and getting paid.

Four “Lakes” Every Spring

Elmwood Park’s own hazard record describes brooks crisscrossing the land that during spring flooding would form a series of four lakes. That is not history. HAZUS mapping puts 63 acres in the 100-year floodplain and 134 in the 500-year. Street flooding is recorded at 73rd Avenue and Bloomingdale in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2014.

The village is named for a grove of elms near 72nd and Harlem, described in its own history as 180-year-old trees. The elms are long gone; Dutch elm disease saw to that, and University of Illinois Extension still publishes what is moving through the replacements. But the ground that grew them is the same ground: wet, heavy, and hard on root plates. Add the ice storms the village records as bringing down limbs and power lines, and you have most of the tree service Elmwood Park calls us about.

Narrow Lots, 1870s Grid, Post-War Infill

Major urbanization came around 1870 with the railroad, a real-estate boom at the turn of the century, and another rapid building expansion after the Second World War. Incorporated in April 1914 specifically to stop Chicago annexing it, the village now holds 10,068 housing units in 1.91 square miles.

At that density there is rarely a drop zone, and that single fact shapes what tree service Elmwood Park costs. Most removals here come down in sections on ropes, over a garage or a neighbor’s gangway. That is slower than felling. It is also the honest reason a quote here does not match a quote for the same tree in a west-suburban yard.

Tree Service Elmwood Park: What We Do

• Tree and bush removal, rigged and lowered where there is no room to drop
• Trimming and pruning — and no topping, which needs the Director’s authorization under 49A-7
• Stump grinding, which the village’s own bond language treats as part of the job
• Storm response around the clock

Booking Tree Service Elmwood Park

Tell us the address, what the tree is doing, and whether there is alley access. A photo tells us more than a description. Estimates are free, seven days a week.

708-424-5885 · Cook County service area · nearby: River Grove, Franklin Park.