Oak Park, IL Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 25-1-4(A) bars any person, other than the Forester, the Forester's agent, or a Village-hired contractor, from planting, pruning, spraying, injecting, fertilizing, damaging, cutting (including roots), tapping, carving, or transplanting any tree or shrub on Village-owned property, which includes the parkway strip between curb and sidewalk, without first getting the Forester's written approval. It also bars mounding soil against the trunk (volcano mulching), attaching ropes, wires, nails, signs or posters to a tree, and making tree wells, curb cuts, or sidewalk cuts without that approval.

Under Section 25-1-4(B), the Forester has 7 days after receiving a written application, detailing the location, number, size, and species of the trees affected and the purpose and method of the work, to grant approval to act within 30 days, and approval issues only where the work abates a public nuisance or complies with the Village's Urban Forest Management Plan. A contractor felling a tree that could fall onto Village property must carry $1,000,000 per-accident and $2,000,000 aggregate liability coverage and file it with the Forester.

Critically, Section 25-1-4(D) makes clear this approval authority does not extend to disapproving tree removal or maintenance on private property, which is instead controlled by the separate Zoning Ordinance of the Village of Oak Park. Violating Section 25-1-4 exposes a person to the penalty in Section 25-1-8: a fine under the Chapter 1 general penalty schedule, plus the cost of repairing or replacing any tree or plant killed or mutilated on Village-owned property, valued under the International Society of Arboriculture's Guide for Plant Appraisal.