Tree Service in Riverdale, IL

Riverdale’s own hazard assessment explains more about the tree service Riverdale needs than any ordinance does, because it says something most villages would never put in writing: “The Village of Riverdale has many trees; the majority are old, diseased, and fall over during high winds.”

That is a village being honest about its canopy. It also describes, precisely, the calls we take from here. If you want to know what is wrong with a particular tree before deciding anything, University of Illinois Extension runs plant clinics for exactly that question.

Get A Free Estimate

Two Permits, Not One

Chapter 12.20 requires a permit both ways. Section 12.20.010: it is unlawful to plant any tree or shrub in any public street, parkway or other public place without first securing a permit. Section 12.20.020: it is unlawful to remove or cut down any tree or shrub in any street, parkway or other public place without first securing a permit. Applications go to the village clerk, who refers them to the superintendent of public works, with placement approved by the committee on buildings and public grounds.

Most villages regulate removal and leave planting alone. Riverdale regulates both, and neither carries a caliper nor a count threshold — the trigger is simply the location.

Section 12.20.030 makes it unlawful to injure any tree or shrub planted in a public place. Section 12.20.050 requires property owners to trim overhanging branches and remove limbs likely to fall on public ways.

Licensed Contractors, $2,500 Bond

Chapter 5.40 licenses building contractors at $195 annually for general, sidewalk and paving, roofing, HVAC, concrete and cement, masonry and carpentry work, requiring a $2,500 surety bond and a current public liability policy of at least $100,000 personal injury and $50,000 property damage. Subcontractors must also be licensed. Tree service is not named among those trades.

South Bank Of The Little Calumet, With A Chromium Plant History

Riverdale sits on the south bank of the Little Calumet River across 3.745 square miles, in the Little Calumet watershed. Flooding affects areas north of 138th Street and east of School Street, with homes on the northeast side experiencing sewer backups, and the Halsted Street bridges singled out as vulnerable to snow and ice. The village records no FEMA repetitive-loss properties.

The industrial history is unusual. A beet sugar factory opened here in 1905 processing 350 tons a day; by 1947 it had been replaced by the Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation. Ground with that history behind it is not ordinary garden soil, and where fill and industrial ground meet residential lots, root systems find hard layers and go sideways instead of down.

Combine shallow lateral roots, a river-adjacent water table, and a canopy the village itself describes as old and diseased, and you have the reason trees come over whole here in a wind that would only shed limbs elsewhere. Most tree service Riverdale calls us for is that failure, either just before it happens or just after.

What We Do In Riverdale

• Removal of the old and declining stock — the honest answer for a lot of trees here
• Trimming of the overhanging branches Section 12.20.050 makes your responsibility
• Stump grinding
• Lot clearing on river-side and industrial-edge ground
• Storm response, 24 hours a day

Tree Service Riverdale, Priced On Site

Address, and tell us whether the tree is in the parkway or on your lot. On the parkway it is a permit matter both ways here — even if you want to plant a replacement.

708-424-5885 · Cook County service area · nearby: Dolton, Calumet Park.