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How to fix sidewalk and not kill a tree?
So, the city I am going to live in has this ordinance about the owner of a property being responsible for the trees in front of their house. The city planted them 10-20 years ago then deeded them to the homeowners a few years ago for care, the exception being that the city will trim them due to power lines and what not. Most of the streets go yard, sidewalk, grass strip with trees, street. Well the house we bought has one tree in the front grass strip by the road that has come up through the sidewalk pushing it up and making it uneven. This will have to be one of our first projects when we move in so that someone doesn't trip or get hurt and I'm stuck about how to approach it and thought you ladies might have some ideas.
Where do we even start? Pulling up the cement is obvious and I know how to lay a new sidewalk, but what do we do about the root and tree? Can we trim down the root without killing the tree? Is there anything we can do to prevent the root from regrowing under the sidewalk so we don't have to redo the sidewalk again in a few years? It's a really nice tree with just this one large root sticking up. The city does not issue removal permits unless it is "super dead"(to quote our realtor) or falling over. Thanks
Re: How to fix sidewalk and not kill a tree?
http://www.sccgov.org/scc_ordinance/41600000.HTM
You can remove a tree without a permit, BUT you have to get a qualified Arborist to sign off that it was necessary. And the Arborist and you should both be prepared to go to court over it. Call the City, make someone come out and look at it. In California, I'd make 5 or 6 City officials come out and look at it. Otherwise, they mighty say you didn't get the right person to look at it.
Yes, we're 99% sure we're responsible. If you look down the street you can tell all the different patches that have been done by people. The trees have been a big story around here lately after a tree fell over and killed a child when it hit the car he was sitting in. A lot of people didn't know they were in charge of the trees and it was a big deal when the tree fell over-all over the news. I assume we have to get some sort of permit to do the sidewalk, but I just wanted to see if there was a way to fix it without doing damage to the tree. Our realtor said the city rarely signs off on tree removals. Oh, the link doesn't work above, I'm assuming it's some ordinance.
Edit: I found the county ordinance, but the city I'm in says we are responsible if any injury occurs from a raised sidewalk and to just call the arborist's office to get a root trimming permit to fix it.
This is an excellent, frequently cited book about sidewalk design for urban forestry. Covers everything:
http://www.amazon.com/Reducing-Infrastructure-Damage-Tree-Roots/dp/B000BF47KI
This is a great article with good photos, that explains several of the strategies:
http://www.bartlett.com/resources/Sidewalk-Repair-Near-Trees.pdf
It's really late, but you can curve the sidewalk around the tree. This is what we do in our town to save the tree (and/or the cost of it's removal) because you have to fix the sidewalk anyway. Google for pics of worse scenarios than this. We are the Point Pleasant Beach Shade Tree Commission on Facebook : )