Des Plaines residents upset at plans to remove trees

Des Plaines’ plan to remove about 17 mature trees along the east side of Jeannette Street to make way for a new storm sewer has upset several area residents who learned of the project last week.

“It’s going to be shocking to walk out the morning after they are all cut down,” said Keith Kuhn, who has lived in that neighborhood for 13 years. “It’s really going to adversely affect the image of the neighborhood for quite a few years.”

The city plans to take down the trees next month and work on the storm sewer project is set to begin around July 5. The project is part of the city’s Stormwater Master Plan to alleviate flooding.

City public works officials say removing trees is unavoidable because, with four utility lines already running underneath the roadway, there is no place other than the parkway to lay down about 1,000 feet of 24-inch storm sewer pipe.

“During the design, we tried to find the best spot for it,” said Jon Duddles, assistant director of public works and engineering. “Due to (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency) separation requirements, we have to be 10 feet away from our sanitary sewer (in the center of the street). So essentially, the best and most feasible spot to put it was in that parkway.”

Duddles said his department received several calls from upset residents after they found out about the planned tree removal. Officials sent another letter this week explaining why the trees, many of them mature silver maples, have to come down.

“People didn’t understand that there’s a lot of benefit to doing this,” Duddles said. “A lot of the sanitary sewers that service those houses are either directly under those big trees or really close to them within five or 10 feet. Their roots infiltrate into the sewer and their root system is pretty much destructive and lifts up the sidewalks. They are too big of a species for the small parkway space.”

Duddles said saving the existing trees would increase the cost of the $1.5 million project tenfold.

Residents will see other benefits as part of the project, officials said. The city will replace part of the existing sanitary sewer service lines from behind the curb to the sidewalk. Residents also will get new driveway aprons, and be able to choose replacement trees, two to four inches wide, out of 10 varieties that will be planted next spring, Duddles added.

Kuhn said if there is no other option, residents will just have to live with it. He added, there are a few trees on the city’s list that are a larger species and fast growing.

“I’m hoping people will plant those,” he said. “We’ll never get that canopy back that we have now.”