Mundelein nearly done removing infested ash trees

Mundelein's ongoing effort to remove ash trees infested by the destructive emerald ash borer should wrap up in spring 2017, some four years after it launched.

The end of the ash tree removal program means Mundelein officials will be able to focus on planting and maintaining other varieties of trees on village-owned parkways, Public Works Director Adam Boeche said Monday during a strategic planning discussion at village hall.

Since emerging in North America in 2002, the destructive ash borer has chewed through millions of trees. It appeared in Illinois in 2006 and in Mundelein in 2011.

Mundelein's ash tree removal program targeted about 1,900 trees - roughly 30 percent of the 6,000 trees on the town's parkways, Boeche said. It cost Mundelein nearly $200,000 each year, Boeche said.

With the ash trees all but gone, public works crews will focus on the health of the town's remaining parkway trees, and planting new ones.

The town will be split into nine zones. Crews will focus on a different zone every year between now and 2022.

"These are the zones we feel we can target in a given year," Boeche said.

Boeche described the work to be done as "routine maintenance." It could cost between $75,000 and $170,000 each year.

Boeche also proposed a cost-sharing program for parkways that didn't previously have trees. Participating residents would pay half the estimated $400 cost of planting and maintaining trees in the parkways in front of their homes.

Trustees verbally supported that proposal but took no formal action.

They also discussed street repairs, tax rates, sidewalk extensions and other municipal issues during Monday's session.