Geneva close to approving diseased-tree law

The fuss about what to do about private trees in Geneva infested with emerald ash borers will soon be put to rest.

The Geneva city council is expected to change the city's tree law to require landowners to take down a diseased, dying or dead tree only if it is determined to be hazardous.

And it will give landowners more time to take care of that - up to 30 business days, instead of 10 days as the law now mandates.

The change received preliminary approval from the committee of the whole this week and is scheduled for an official vote Monday.

This came up when the city was asked to declare emerald ash borers, which destroy ash trees, a nuisance, and to add the borers to a list of pests and diseases in the law. Several aldermen then objected to requiring landowners to take down trees infested with borers if the trees were not hazardous, saying that people should be allowed to try treatments to slow down the damage, while waiting for scientists to come up with a cure for the problem.

The 33-year-old law was written when Dutch elm disease was ravaging American elms. The bark beetle that causes that disease can live in dead trees, so people thought getting rid of dead trees might stop the spread of the disease.

But emerald ash borers only live in live trees. The Illinois Department of Agriculture suggests that cutting down and shredding live trees might prevent the borer larvae from hatching and flying to another tree.

Ald. Charles Brown, who had objected to the first proposal, was pleased with the revised version.

"I think the language is a decided improvement over what we had before," he said. He thought the previous draft was confusing, and that people should be allowed to try to save their trees, even if they only stave off death a year or two.

The 30-day provision pleased Ald. Ron Singer, in whose west side ward the borers have been found. He felt it could be tough for a landowner to make arrangements to get a tree cut down and disposed of within 10 days.

"We are going to be very flexible. If there is a hardship case, we're going to work with the residents very closely," said Steve LeMaire, streets and sidewalks superintendent. His department is in charge of city forestry.

Trees that are visibly distressed, as seen from the street, can be examined by an arborist hired by the city. City workers will not go on private property looking for diseased or hazardous trees, LeMaire said.

In other ash borer news, Singer pointed out that residents can call the city to find out what kind of trees are on parkways by their homes, in case they don't know an ash from an alder. The city inventoried parkway trees in 1999, and is thinking about doing it again next year. The city is removing parkway trees infested with ash borer.