Tree Service in Palos Hills, IL

Two hundred dollars an inch. That is what unpermitted tree removal Palos Hills costs on any trunk four inches or bigger. Then section 8.10.081 adds that “each subsequent violation by the same person or entity shall result in a 50% increase in fines over the previous levy.” A twenty-inch oak is a $4,000 mistake the first time and $6,000 the second. It is the steepest per-inch figure anywhere in the southwest suburbs. So it is worth knowing before a crew starts cutting.

Request An Estimate

Who Section 8.10.060 Actually Applies To

Read the permit language closely, because the subject of the sentence matters. Section 8.10.060 says “no developer of property shall, directly or indirectly, cut down, destroy, remove, move, destroy through damaging…any tree of four inches (4″) or more in diameter” without a permit. The fee is $25.00. The measurement point is unusual and easy to get wrong. It is four inches measured six inches above the ground, not at breast height like most codes.

For commercial and multi-family property the replacement schedule is fixed. A tree of 4 to 12 inches removed means two replacements at 2 inches or one at 4. Thirteen to 25 inches means four at 2 inches or two at 4. Twenty-six inches or greater means six at 2 inches or three at 4. There is no cash payment in lieu — you replant. Single-family work reads more loosely. It “must be done to avoid destruction or removal,” and a damaged tree is “replaced by a species compatible with the existing tree on a one-on-one basis.”

Trenching, Disease, And Tree Removal Palos Hills Orders

Section 8.10.082 governs digging near a trunk, and the ratio is generous. Any trench “must be not less than 1 foot for every 1″ of tree diameter measured at breast height.” Twenty-inch trunk, twenty feet of clearance. Section 8.10.083 requires a final inspection before the file closes.

Chapter 8.08 handles the diseased and the dangerous, and it names the pests. Dutch elm, oak wilt, Asian long-horned beetle, emerald ash borer, gypsy moth. University of Illinois Extension carries identification guides for all five. The clock is short: “not less than ten (10) days” for a diseased, infested, hazardous or felled tree. Miss it and the city abates the work itself. Then “the city shall record a lien against any property for its cost to remove or abate nuisance greenery” at the Cook County Clerk’s office. Fines run $80 to $500.

A Late-Built City Against 7,000 Acres Of Preserve

Palos Hills incorporated in 1958. But the building came “in the late 70s through the early 90s.” The city is now landlocked. That compressed window is why the canopy behaves the way it does. Subdivision plantings that went in within a few years of each other are now ending together. So one ice storm takes out a run of them along the same street. The tree removal Palos Hills books after an ice event tends to arrive by the blockful.

The city’s own hazard-mitigation annex is blunt about the consequence: “Palos Hills is a tree city. The number and size of trees in the City make ice storms more dangerous for limb failures causing power outages.” The same document records a staffing gap in as many words. It says “high winds result in tree damage, the City would benefit from more time and staff for pruning programs.” Tree City USA since 1989, and short-handed on pruning.

The western boundary runs against 7,000 acres of Cook County Forest Preserve. That puts remnant native oak up against back fences on that side of town. Those trees are older and larger than anything planted around them, and a climber reaches them, not a bucket. Flooding is named and local. Roberts Road north of 103rd Street, the streets from 99th to 103rd, and the Lucas ditch area. An aging levee sits on Stoney Creek. Three FEMA repetitive-loss properties, none severe.

Tree Removal Palos Hills: What We Handle

• Removals priced against the replacement table before you commit, not after
• Pruning on the mature stock the city says it lacks the staff to keep up with
• Stump grinding, ground deep enough that a required replacement tree has somewhere to go
• Emergency and storm work after the ice events the annex warns about

Get A Tree Removal Palos Hills Estimate

Give us the address and the trunk diameter, measured six inches off the ground. That one number decides whether a permit is in play at all. Free estimates, seven days. Call 708-424-5885. Public Works is at 10335 Roberts Road, 708-598-3400. See our Cook County coverage, and nearby: Hickory Hills, Worth, Palos.