This winter, the Village of Lombard will be pruning parkway trees on the south side of town. The area includes parkway trees south of Roosevelt Road, as well as an area north of Roosevelt Road bordered by W. Finley Road, E. Wilson Avenue, and S. Edgewood Avenue. The pruning work will be performed by Village personnel and a private tree maintenance firm contracted by the Village. Trees will be pruned according to professional standards set forth by the tree care industry. The pruning is scheduled for completion by the end of April 2026.

Trees will be pruned to a minimum height of 15 feet above the roadway to ensure safe clearance for vehicles and pedestrians, as well as to eliminate sight obstructions for signs. Additionally, limbs will be removed if they are broken, hanging, dead, structurally unsound, in contact with other limbs, interfering with utility lines or streetlights or interfering with other trees on private property. 

Public safety is the Village’s first priority, followed by tree health and aesthetics.  Parkway trees have different maintenance requirements compared to decorative landscape trees and will be pruned accordingly. Typically, no more than one-quarter of the live crown will be removed at one time on mature trees. The determination of how much to remove depends on the tree species, size and condition of the tree, as well as the duration between pruning cycles. The determination of how much of the crown is to be removed will be made by Village personnel.  

The Village maintains a 6-year pruning cycle for parkway trees greater than 6 inches in diameter and a 3-year cycle for trees less than 6 inches. A shorter pruning cycle means less live material needs to be removed each time, allowing the tree to maintain a more natural form, with growth directed upward and outward. Throughout the year, the Village’s in-house forestry personnel will continue pruning other parkway trees. This proactive pruning allows a gradual raising of the crown, correcting defects early in the tree’s life, and smaller pruning wounds that close more rapidly.

For more information, please visit www.villageoflombard.org/treetrimming or contact the Public Works Department, Forestry Division, at publicworks@villageoflombard.org or (630) 620-5740.