Parkway Trees

Public Works Street Division maintains all parkway trees. The City does not maintain shrubs or perennials planted in the City right-of-way.

Tree Inventory 

A consultant completed a tree inventory and a management plan for the City in early 2020. The May 2020 plan document, and inventory can be viewed through the following links:

• Tree Management Plan dated May 2020 (Link to PDF of plan). 
• Map of tree inventory (Link to City's GIS maps).

Tree Management and Planting Plan

The management and planting plan approved by City Council in December 2022, aims to increase City tree canopy, and diversify tree species throughout the community. A full memo of staff recommendations and description of new and past management plan can be found under Related Documents. Components of the plan include:

• Annually, $30,000 in the General Fund dedicated to planting new trees, and replacement trees in the parkway.
• Prune 20% of the non-Route 56 trees each year. 
• City staff evaluates the program annually, to determine if adjustments to the process are needed. 
• Staff investigates and applies for grant funding opportunities, as appropriate.

Planting Process

• Evaluate information from maps on the Chicago Regional Tree Initiative (CRTI) and Tree Equity Score websites, and the City’s tree inventory, to determine targeted area to focus planting each year,
• Each year, staff hangs door hangers throughout the targeted area by February 1st, soliciting interested residents to submit their requests for parkway trees by March 1st. 
• The choices of tree species offered each year factor in the goal of tree diversity, 
• Staff confirms the feasibility of planting a tree at each requested location. 
• The City pays for the trees. 
• City staff coordinates with residents on their requests in the month of March. 
• Plantings to be split into two groups, the first being planted in April, and the second being planted in October. 

Targeted Area for 2023

In 2023, staff plans to start the first year of the program by planting new parkway trees along both sides of Continental Drive, between Route 59 and Johnson School. There are very few trees along this stretch of road. Staff plans to plant these trees in the fall of 2023, and utilize summer help to fill gator bags, as necessary in the summer of 2024.