Schaumburg steps up enforcement of ash tree removal

It's last call for the removal of dead and dying ash trees from private property in Schaumburg.

Owners of such trees that have been identified for more than two years will soon receive notices that they have 120 days left to remove them or will receive a $100 fine.

“The communication to the homeowner is becoming more enforcement-oriented,” Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said. “In the last few years we've moved more to an enforcement tone.”

Since 2013, the village has been putting a hold on the real estate tax transfer stamps of homes that have at least one dead or dying ash tree on the property, ensuring that such homes can't be sold until the trees are removed.

But not everyone in this situation has tried to sell a home in the past three years. There remain 311 homes with a hold on their tax stamp.

Schaumburg Village Attorney Lance Malina said the intended enforcement period won't be an opportunity to avoid the cost of tree removal simply by paying a $100 fine.

“It would be escalated until you got compliance,” Malina said.

Fitzgerald said officials haven't yet been decided how soon the next wave of enforcement would come after the $100 fines.

She emphasized that this enforcement is not aimed at homeowners who are treating their trees for the emerald ash borer with success. This is for those trees that are obviously dead or dying and about which homeowners have already received two notices.

Malina said there's a real concern about property damage and public safety from dead ash trees, which tend to fall apart more quickly than the dead trees of other species.