This winter, the Village of Lombard will be trimming parkway trees south of Roosevelt Road. Parkway trees between Roosevelt Road and E. Wilson Avenue, east of S. Main Street will also be trimmed. The trimming work will be done using in house Forestry staff and a private tree maintenance firm contracted by the Village of Lombard. Trees will be trimmed according to professional standards set forth within the tree care industry. The trimming is scheduled for completion in April 2020.
Trees will be trimmed to a minimum height of 15 feet over the roadway for safe clearance by all vehicles and pedestrians and to remove sight obstructions for signs. Also, limbs will be removed if they are diseased, infested, broken, hanging, dead, weakly attached, structurally unsound, in contact with other limbs, interfering with utility lines or street lights or interfering with other trees on private property.
Public safety is the Village’s first priority, followed by tree health and then aesthetics. Parkway trees have different maintenance requirements than decorative landscape trees, and are therefore pruned accordingly. Normally no more than one-quarter of the live crown will be removed at one time. The determination of how much to remove depends on the tree species, size and condition of the tree, as well as the duration between trim cycles. The Village tries to maintain a 6-year trim cycle for trees greater than 6 inches in diameter and a 3-year cycle for trees less than 6 inches. The shorter the trimming cycle, the less live material needs to be removed. The natural form of the tree is maintained as much as possible, with tree growth directed upward and outward.
Throughout the year, the Village’s in-house forestry personnel will continue trimming other parkway trees. This proactive trimming allows a gradual raising of the crown, correcting defects early in the tree’s life, and smaller pruning wounds that close rapidly.
Please visit www.villageoflombard.org/treetrimming or contact the Public Works Department, Forestry Division at publicworks@villageoflombard.org or (630) 620-5740 for more information.