A. Removal: Any Village owned tree, shrub, perennial, turf, etc., deemed diseased, infected, in general decline, or pose a risk and deemed necessary for removal by the Director of Public Works or their designee (Village forester, horticulturalist, etc.) will be done by Village employees or contractors of the Village only.
B. Permit: No person shall remove or cut down any tree, shrub, perennial, turf, etc., in any parkway, right-of-way or other Village-owned property without first securing a parkway tree removal permit from the Department of Public Works. Any permit authorizing removal will be subject to such conditions as the Director of Public Works or their designee (Village forester, horticulturalist, etc.) may deem necessary or appropriate to minimize damage to other trees or vegetation on a site and may include the installation of protective fencing.
C. Healthy Trees: The Village does not remove trees deemed healthy by qualified Village staff.
D. Tree Removal Permit: Steps to obtain a tree removal permit for a deemed healthy tree, shrub, perennial, turf, etc:
1. Call 1-630-350-3435, email or visit the Village of Bensenville Public Works Department at 717 East Jefferson Street to schedule an inspection of the site with the Director of Public Works or their designee (Village forester, horticulturalist, etc.).
2. If no alterations can be made after an inspection, a tree appraisal will be done. Tree appraisals consist of the following: tree size, removal/clean-up/restoration costs, benefits cost, location rating and condition. (Example: A 15 inch Norway maple has a removal/clean-up cost of $360.00, benefits cost of $141.00, locations rating of 69 [rating scale of 50, 57, 63, 69, 75] and condition of 4 [scale of 1 - 4] would have an appraised value of $16,568.74.)
3. If after the tree appraisal is completed and the requesting party still wants the tree removed, the requesting party must pay the appraised value of the tree to the Village to be used in the landscape budget for future use.
4. Once the transaction is completed, the Director of Public Works or their designee (Village forester, horticulturalist, etc.) will schedule removal.
E. Violations Of Removal Regulations: Whoever violates this section, in addition to any other fines, or fees, shall be subject to the following provisions:
1. The responsible party must pay the Village's appraised value of the removed tree to the Village to be used in the landscape budget for future use.
2. If the entity or person cannot pay the fines and fees, a lien shall be placed against their property. (Ord. 32-2019, 5-28-2019)