Crest Hill has no tree ordinance. No permit to remove one, no diameter threshold, no replacement schedule. Instead the city handles trees under health and safety law, and section 7.08.050 is the whole of it. It makes it “the duty of the owner, occupant or person in charge of the real estate to remove all dying, dead, diseased, or grossly damaged trees, upon order from the Mayor or Health Officer.” So the tree service Crest Hill homeowners need is rarely about paperwork. It is about getting there before the order does.
Four Words That Decide Everything: Dying, Dead, Diseased, Damaged
Section 7.08.050 is unusual because it is so short. There is no inspection schedule and no diameter test. However, once the Mayor or Health Officer issues an order, the duty is yours and it is immediate.
Furthermore the city has contracted help for properties that ignore it. Crest Hill’s 2026 to 2028 solicitation for “Vegetation Cutting and Code Abatement Services” covers “trimming of overgrown bushes, shrubs, or trees” and lists “dead tree removal” among the abatement work it may direct. That crew does not arrive to help you. It arrives because the city gave up waiting.
One more nuisance rule catches people at corners. Under 7.16.010, it is a public nuisance to maintain any “tree or shrub obstructing a clear view at any corner of a road or street intersection between points 20 feet back from the intersection of the roadways, and to the corner thereof, and four feet above the crown of each intersecting roadway.” Consequently a corner lot has a sight line to keep, whatever the tree wants to do.
On contractors, and one useful detail. The city’s building department states it directly: “If you are a contractor you must be registered to work within our city limits,” and then, plainly, “We do not require a bond.” That is unusual for Will County and worth knowing when you compare quotes, because a bond requirement is a cost that lands somewhere. Building is 815-741-5106.
Tree Service Crest Hill: What We Do
- Removals of the dying, dead, diseased or grossly damaged stock that 7.08.050 puts on you
- Pruning, including the corner sight lines that 7.16.010 requires
- Stump grinding, four to eight inches below grade
- Emergency and storm work, sequenced by danger rather than by who called first
Debris is worth planning for. Republic Services takes yard waste in Crest Hill only “beginning in the month of April and ending in the month of November,” and section 7.12.040 limits loose branches to bundles “not more than four feet long” that one person can lift. In short, a removal generates far more than that. Therefore our quotes include haul-away rather than leaving it on your parkway.
Planting Something? Six Species Are Out
Crest Hill does regulate what goes in the ground on development sites. Section 15.04.040 lists the banned stock outright: “Soft Maple, Poplar, Box Elder, Catalpa, Tree of Heaven, and Mountain Ash.” Willow and mulberry are allowed only as decorative plantings “located so as to avoid shedding materials onto walks, drives, and parking areas.”
That list is good advice even where it does not bind you. Every species on it is a fast, weak-wooded tree that fails early and expensively. Meanwhile the city also runs a 50/50 Tree Program, though we would point you to the city for its current terms rather than describe them secondhand.
A City That Chose Not To Be Joliet
Crest Hill incorporated on January 22, 1960, with 5,887 residents, specifically “to avoid being annexed by the City of Joliet.” Today it holds 20,459 people across 9.04 square miles of land at 640 feet, bordered “by Romeoville to the north and Joliet to the South.”
That founding date matters for trees. A city built out mainly after the Second World War has a canopy planted largely in one long stretch, and it ages the same way. Consequently the failures tend to arrive in clusters rather than one at a time.
Storm damage. If a wire is down or tangled in the tree, treat the whole area as live and keep everyone well back. Call 911 first, then ComEd. The city names “Commonwealth Edison (ComEd)” as the local provider and lists 800-334-7661. We staff our line around the clock.
Get A Tree Service Crest Hill Estimate
Send the address and tell us what the tree is doing. If you have already had a notice from the city, say so, because that changes the timeline rather than the price. Estimates are free, seven days a week.
Call 708-424-5885 or request one online. If you want to read up first, the ISA’s homeowner guidance explains what a hazard assessment looks at.
Crest Hill sits entirely in Will County. See where we work in Will County. Nearby: Joliet, Romeoville and Lockport.
19253 South Blackhawk Parkway #80
Mokena, Illinois 60448
708-424-5885
Inquiries@protreeservice.com
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