City won't let us replace our parkway tree (vent)

[FINFAN]

Does your town/city have control over your parkway tree? When we built our home we had no say so over the choice of parkway tree going in. The city stuck us with a honey locust. It's 25 year's old, massive, ugly , messy, clogs sewer drains and shades the entire front lawn from 11 am-3.We have already replaced the sidewalk in front from roots cracking it . It is growing over the sidewalk and half way up the lawn into our neighbors river birch along their driveway (to be fair, they do not have it trimmed back off our property line, look at me like a deer in headlights when I bring it up). Our neighbors tree is to the west side, shading our entire front lawn except for the last foot by the sidewalk~ all late afternoon into evening. Our town deems the tree healthy and in "fine shaping" thus not allowing us to replace it with a tree of smaller stature & smaller mature growth.The city only trims every 7 years and they declined my request to re-look at it for trimming again. We are not allowed to trim it back as the parkway is "city property" so we can't even catch a break there.The town has an acceptable tree list that you choose a replacement from and there are several that would be a vast improvement. The current tree is a detriment to our curb appeal as well.I am being held hostage by the town and it ticks me off. I just want some sun to reach our lawn. I pray every spring for a bolt of lightening to hit the dumb thing or for our neighbors to cut down their birch. We have already cut down one tree that the birch encroached on and over shaded. I can't put any flowers that need sun, our back yard faces N so limited choices there as well. It's depressing and claustrophobic. You drive down our street and everyone has beautiful emerald green, sunny lawns and then our place, looking like the Munster's dark and shady. We have neighbor's comment that it is the ugliest tree in the neighborhood, insinuating.."do something about it", and I can't! Been trying for 4 years. Ugggghhhhhhhhhh! It is just absolutely ridiculous that if a homeowner s willing to pay the cost of tree removal and replacement, choosing a tree from an approved list , that they cannot do so.

 

[gotomu212]

Our HOA controls the easement trees and they won’t let us touch them either. They are a little more receptive to trimming them when we call. However, we wanted to take out half of them- our house sits along a larger road so the whole side is an easement and they really overplanted 10 years ago. Now the trees are ultra crowded and it doesn’t look good and isn’t healthy. They would not do that even when we suggested paying for it.

I would never ever suggest this, but we suspect a few people down the street of posoining a few of their trees when they didn’t like the response they got.

 

[FINFAN]

Our HOA controls the easement trees and they won’t let us touch them either. They are a little more receptive to trimming them when we call. However, we wanted to take out half of them- our house sits along a larger road so the whole side is an easement and they really overplanted 10 years ago. Now the trees are ultra crowded and it doesn’t look good and isn’t healthy. They would not do that even when we suggested paying for it.

I would never ever suggest this, but we suspect a few people down the street of posoining a few of their trees when they didn’t like the response they got.

Oh I KNOW neighbors have done that..so much so that it would be the first thing the city questions. Especially since they inspected it already. I was thinking my son's Wrangler having a brake issue could be convenient

 

[gillep]

Our city is insane when it comes to park strip trees, and won't let you remove them for any reason whatsoever it seems. It is especially annoying that the city planted the wrong trees for the area and the roots are destroying the sidewalks. Of course you are fined if there is anything wrong with your sidewalk, and you have to have it fixed at your expense or the city will fix it at an exorbitant fee and charge you, but they absolutely will not let you touch the tree, which is the actual cause of the issue, even if you pay to replace it with a more suitable variety.

One of my neighbors was fighting the city for two years because her tree was dying, and an arborist certified it as needing to be removed but the city would not budge, fast forward to last winter when we had a big storm and the tree that should have been removed fell on a neighbor's car, the whole thing is just a mess all around.

 

[FINFAN]

Our city is insane when it comes to park strip trees, and won't let you remove them for any reason whatsoever it seems. It is especially annoying that the city planted the wrong trees for the area and the roots are destroying the sidewalks. Of course you are fined if there is anything wrong with your sidewalk, and you have to have it fixed at your expense or the city will fix it at an exorbitant fee and charge you, but they absolutely will not let you touch the tree, which is the actual cause of the issue, even if you pay to replace it with a more suitable variety.

One of my neighbors was fighting the city for two years because her tree was dying, and an arborist certified it as needing to be removed but the city would not budge, fast forward to last winter when we had a big storm and the tree that should have been removed fell on a neighbor's car, the whole thing is just a mess all around.

It's just bogus. I know in the grand scheme of things it's not a REAL real problem..but annoying as all get out. For what we pay this city in taxes..double digits...we should be able to access trees (they have apparently purchased using said taxes) out for replacement.

 

[Colleen27]

Our city is really laid back about them, thankfully. If the tree is destroying sidewalks or sewers, they even have a grant program to subsidize a portion of the removal costs. And we can plant what we choose for replacement or plant nothing at all, if that's more appropriate for the space - a lot of the trees being removed now predate sidewalks and driveways, so replacement isn't always practical. I have a dwarf cherry now, after taking out one of our maples that was too big for the space. I'd like to take one more maple out and not replace it at all - this one is too close to the corner, and replanting there now wouldn't meet current code (the tree is at least 70 years old).

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Our city has rules about parking strip trees, but I know some neighbors have found ways around them. You're supposed to have a tree planted in front of your house by the street. Our neighbor across the street took his out because it was dead. He never got permission. He just took it out. He said he was going to mix new soil into the area and let it settle for a bit before planting a new one. That was at least four years ago. So far he hasn't gotten around to planting a new tree and the city hasn't said a word about it.

Another neighbor down the street had a huge tree pulling up his sidewalk. His sidewalk was marked and he received a letter saying he had 90 days to fix it. That's fine, but he didn't want to pay for a new sidewalk only have it pulled up again. The city rejected his request to have the tree removed. In the meantime, a branch fell off his tree during a storm and totaled his truck. The city said that wouldn't have happened if he had kept his tree properly trimmed. So he had the sidewalk demolished and said, "Wouldn't it be a shame if the roots got so damaged during this repair that the tree died?" I don't know exactly what was done or not done to the roots, but the tree was declared dead sometime later and he was able to finally get it removed.

The people next door to us have a huge maple tree at their parking strip. The dang leaves blow all over our yard in the fall. Their sidewalk was also being pulled up and the city told them to fix it. A few weeks ago, a crew came and removed several sections of the sidewalk in one piece. Then they cut the heck out of the roots, and put the sidewalk back so it would lie flat. After that, they trimmed every branch off the tree so now it's basically just a tall stump. We'll see if that tree meets an untimely death anytime soon!

 

[aprilgail]

what is a "parkway tree"??

 

[FINFAN]

what is a "parkway tree"??

the tree on the grass area between the sidewalk and the street (if your neighborhood has sidewalks) It is usually city owned yet the homeowner cares for it and can plant etc on it.

 

[barkley]

fascinating. any place where we've owned within city limits our property lines ended at where the sidewalks began, and the city was responsible for upkeep/repairs of sidewalks in front of residential homes so no tree rules about 'parkways' but the first home we owned was in a city where at one point in time there had been a law on the books that if a tree was removed from a property another tree had to be planted. it wasn't in existence when we purchased but we learned about it when we removed 3 old nasty dying trees in our backyard and the neighbors behind us came over to thank us profusely. apparently the original owner (20 years prior) had planted them as replacements for ones removed-and the variety of tree not only created a mess in the neighbor's yard but the roots had caused repeated issues with THEIR pipes and concrete.

 

[dish rag]

The city recently cut down our ash tree and others too on the street because of some worm infestation. They are cutting them down all through the area.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

All your problems can be solved in a matter of seconds.

 

[aprilgail]

the tree on the grass area between the sidewalk and the street (if your neighborhood has sidewalks) It is usually city owned yet the homeowner cares for it and can plant etc on it.

oh ok- "the strip"- some houses on block have sidewalks, others don't. You have to get the town to plant a tree on there if you want it- it took me years to get them to take DOWN the trees I had on there that my grandfather planted in 1960! He put two maple trees out there back when you could do what you wanted with the strip. One of the maple trees grew into my sewer line and had it back up into my basement, the other was pushing up the sidewalk. The one with the sewer line they took down no problem, the other one I had to work at killing it off before they would come and take it down.

 

[aprilgail]

but the first home we owned was in a city where at one point in time there had been a law on the books that if a tree was removed from a property another tree had to be planted. it wasn't in existence when we purchased but we learned about it when we removed 3 old nasty dying trees in our backyard and the neighbors behind us came over to thank us profusely. apparently the original owner (20 years prior) had planted them as replacements for ones removed-and the variety of tree not only created a mess in the neighbor's yard but the roots had caused repeated issues with THEIR pipes and concrete.

My sisters house has that law and they actually have to get permission before they trim trees in their own backyards! It took me years but I finally got rid of every tree that was in my backyard and my neighbor got rid of theirs that hung over my yard so I finally get no leaves falling all over my yard in the fall!

 

[FINFAN]

View attachment 314019

All your problems can be solved in a matter of seconds.

I am about at that point...my DH is more "by the book" than I am but this is war. I have to be even more creative now that I tried to go thru the proper channels per DH request (to be fair he thought slam dunk that they would remove it esp after the sidewalk) but the Wrangler idea is still at the top of the list

 

[Dan Murphy]

We have the same problem, Pam, with a gigantic silver maple, a junk tree, one step up from the worst, a willow tree. I would like to hear from somebody who knows how to poison it to kill it.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Our city is insane when it comes to park strip trees, and won't let you remove them for any reason whatsoever it seems. It is especially annoying that the city planted the wrong trees for the area and the roots are destroying the sidewalks. Of course you are fined if there is anything wrong with your sidewalk, and you have to have it fixed at your expense or the city will fix it at an exorbitant fee and charge you, but they absolutely will not let you touch the tree, which is the actual cause of the issue, even if you pay to replace it with a more suitable variety.

One of my neighbors was fighting the city for two years because her tree was dying, and an arborist certified it as needing to be removed but the city would not budge, fast forward to last winter when we had a big storm and the tree that should have been removed fell on a neighbor's car, the whole thing is just a mess all around.

Virtually no tree is appropriate for the width of most of those little parkways between sidewalk and street. They'll all eventually damage the sidewalk. You can probably get away with a Kwanzan cherry. Too many cities plant these big elms or ashe's there thinking oh we'll make a great tree lined street. Well those come with issues. If they want em, they should take care of em.

We don't have sidewalks at all and anywhere from 3-7 feet from the street is public right of way. No trees are allowed in the right of way because that is where the utilities are. The public right of way is 10 feet wider than is the street and they can divide it anywhere between 3-7 and 7-3. We're lucky. We got the 3.

 

[aprilchem]

I have never heard of such a thing! Don't the roots tear up the sidewalk eventually? Where we live there are no trees in that area (which we call the easement or berm) - sometimes people will brick it up or plant liriopes there, but the town has the right to tear them up if there's a utility fix needed and not replace them. Ours is grass.

 

[NinaBella]

I learned a new term today! Parkway!

We have trees in our easement (parkway) that the HOA had put in when the street was built. The tree roots are now tearing up the sidewalk so they are slowly replacing them with another type of tree. We pay to have our own tree trimmed (as do the neighbors) when it needs to be trimmed. Sometimes you see the HOA pays for a truck to come trim them if they are hanging to low over the road. We have underground power lines so no concern of them growing into power lines. Our particular street is next on the list for tree replacement, so our tree will soon be gone and replaced with a younger and different type of tree that the roots do not grow as far out to damage sidewalk. The HOA did pay for a company to come repair damaged sidewalks. Our county has rules concerning the size of trees you can remove and mandatory replacement of trees.

 

[cabanafrau]

The city recently cut down our ash tree and others too on the street because of some worm infestation. They are cutting them down all through the area.

The emerald ash borer, a pest that came in shipping containers from Japan. We lost a beautiful mature ash in our backyard maybe 10 years ago now. It has devastated trees here in Michigan.