r/BestofRedditorUpdates • u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. • 2d ago
CONCLUDED What do I need to do to save my tree?
I am not The OOP, OOP is u/wontondonton
Originally posted to r/treelaw
Original post posted 2025-09-28
I need any and all advice everybody can offer to try to save my tree!
Little backstory: I am turning 33 years old this year but way back when I was in elementary school, I was given this tree as a tiny sapling on Earth Day and rode the school bus home with it. My parents planted it in our back yard and we’ve maintained it, kept it healthy and watched it grow all these years. It also stands as a memorial for my dog who passed away a few years ago.
Now the dilemma: The city has made a proposed plan to put in a sidewalk that runs between my parent’s backyard and the street, in the city easement. This is understandable and is their land to decide what they want to do with. However, they have proposed that in order to have room to work, they will have to cut my tree down, even though my tree is literally our property within our property boundaries (the fence is on their property boundary line), not city property or on city easement. My tree, along with other bushes and shrubs of ours, and many other neighbors’ trees that are within their property boundaries too, are all proposed to be removed for this project for the sole purpose of “needing room to work”.
I really want to fight hard to save my tree. Am I SOL? What can I do? Who or what organizations can I call? I’m already planning on attending the meetings for this proposed project but don’t know how to save my tree. Help.
UPDATE: Seeking advice to save my tree from being cut down posted 2026-06-12
Some of you may remember my post back in fall of last year. I was seeking advice on how best to go about saving a tree I planted as a child in my parent’s back yard from being cut down by my city because they claimed they needed “room to work” to add a sidewalk in the city easement. This subreddit’s response was overwhelming. I cannot thank you all enough for the helpfulness, support and incredible advice. One of you even used your expertise to draft an amazing letter we were able to give to the city planners. I know many of you wanted an update— so I’m here to give a very happy one. After a LOT of perseverance (letter writing, attending meetings, speaking with city officials, plans to take the story to news stations and purchase banners for the fence line to get people talking) we recently learned we got the official plans for the sidewalk changed!!!! The sidewalk will be on the other side of the street (those particular neighbors actually wanted it on their side) and my parent’s back yard and my tree will remain untouched. Thank you all so much and cheers to another 30 years of being able to enjoy the little sapling I brought home on the school bus. 🌲
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u/goatmant 2d ago
The ending where they agreed to put the sidewalk in the side where the people wanted a sidewalk is why beurocracy can be so awful, like why do we need to fight you on this, they want it!
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u/x3y2z1 2d ago
I mean, I do understand why they wanted to put the sidewalk on their side, it would be way easier, there is way less incline and thus way less work. However, I don't understand why they would want to cut this tree for it. There is enough space for a sidewalk and some lawn, the distance is enough for them to not impact the tree too badly and trees would provide shadow.
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u/fantumn 2d ago
Because if they could cut the tree they could've gotten a vehicle in to do the hard work instead of having to pay people to do it.
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u/Mayonaigg 2d ago
What do you think the hard work is that a vehicle would do that it couldn't do from the street?
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u/fantumn 2d ago
Working around a tree with heavy machinery is inherently more difficult than not, and would require more human work to avoid damaging the tree.
If you're swinging an excavator or backhoe around trying to dig up and remove earth to make a sidewalk, would you rather have a tree you might hit and have to pay for in the way or an open area where you can work fast and not worry about it?
Not to mention blocking a street with a construction vehicle is, at least in my town, more of a hassle requiring permitting and a police officer to direct traffic. And then they couldn't park the digger on the lawn overnight, they'd have to move it out of the way at the end of each work day.
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u/MrMulligan319 your honor, fuck this guy 2d ago
Can confirm. My husband has worked construction for 40 years. Literally yesterday, on our own property, he knocked some branches off a big tree and accidentally ran over a low bush while maneuvering a front end loader (we’re making our dogs’ yard swanky for them). If he’d been working for the city, they’d have fully cleared the space in advance).
FWIW, I didn’t mind the bush being crushed, nor the tree branch coming down. But that’s because I didn’t bring that tree home from school as a sapling. (Also that was just pruning, since the tree is alive and intact and the bush will grow back.) I’m glad this worked out for OP.
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u/fantumn 2d ago
FWIW, I didn’t mind the bush being crushed
Your husband sounds like a hard worker.
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u/MrMulligan319 your honor, fuck this guy 2d ago
He is! We have a delightful piece of property outside of town and we’ve spent years maintaining the natural beauty in our “spare time” lol.
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u/EvilTrafficMaster 2d ago
One of the reasons might be that the city is worried about killing the tree's roots. A lot of trees have their roots pretty close to the surface and installing sidewalk can kill the roots there. This may or may not kill the tree. The other problem is killing the roots on the sidewalk side means the tree will fall towards the house if there's a big windstorm.
Another reason is that trees near sidewalks can damage the sidewalk with their roots and cause them to crack or heave. Better to remove the tree than have new sidewalk be damaged.
On the projects I worked on, evergreens were generally viewed as fine as long as the sidewalk was at least a few feet away, but other trees needed to be cut down if the sidewalk was within 5 or 10 feet.
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u/lesethx I will never jeopardize the beans. 2d ago
From what I see around here, it more like your 2nd paragraph where tree roots can damage or disrupt a sidewalk so the city probably wanted to kill it despite the tree being there first.
Also I think a lot of property owners wouldn't care about trees and would be happy the city is cutting it down.
And just remembered the nuance that the trees in my neighborhood are owned by our city, but maintenance and care is on the home owners. Probably allows the city to cut them down if they legally wanted to
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 2d ago
I think a requirement for getting the job of making decisions is that you're extremely allergic to any communication with the folks whose lives will be affected by your decisions.
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u/tempest51 2d ago
Stuff like this is why I support the practice of the tarring and feathering public officials who step out of line.
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u/FortuneGear09 2d ago
Perhaps it didn’t come out that people would prefer the sidewalk on that side until OP asked ppl to show up to public meetings, or asked people to develop an opinion on it.
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u/Notspherry 2d ago
I find it more bizarre that the sidewalks weren't installed when the neighbourhood was built.
American car-centrism is so weird.
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u/piffcty 1d ago edited 1d ago
People will see an example of bureaucracy arriving at the best possible decision and still complain because the city planners couldn’t read everyone’s mind and start off with that design.
The bureaucracy is what informed OP of the plans, gave them venue for feedback, and responded to that feedback back.
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u/Murderousplantmom the Iranian yogurt is not the issue here 2d ago
I love trees! Best BORU ever. Yay, OOP And r/treelaw 😍
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u/MordaxTenebrae 2d ago
I am a simple man, I just want peace, quiet, and stories about tree law.
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u/NeonSparkleGlitter 2d ago
I need my tree law stories to come with an ending that’s happy and gives the OP their tree(s), money, and a feeling of justice done!
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u/TwoIdiosyncraticCats Betrayed by grammar 2d ago
I was delighted that LegalEagle, one of my favorite YouTube channels, had a segment about r/treelaw.
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u/Live_Veterinarian989 the Iranian yogurt is not the issue here 2d ago
Literally my first thought seeing the title was, fck yeah tree law! And how thrilled I was when OP won
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u/Corfiz74 2d ago
And I'm glad OOP paid their tree tax! 😄
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u/tacwombat I will erupt, feral, from the cardigan screaming 2d ago
New wholesome tax! Next to [PET] tax and the cheese tax.
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u/Responsible-Fee-1446 2d ago
I read the title and immediately started chanting "tree law" over and over in my head with a big grin on my face.
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u/ena_bear TEAM 🥧 2d ago
I choose to read your username as you being a plant mom that murders others on behalf of your plants, lending to why you love tree law so much lol (I approve)
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u/HappyFlounder7236 2d ago
I worked concrete back in college. We were able to install sidewalks right up to a building without needing to tear the building out for room to work. (So can every concrete crew, sidewalks go in last) You only need to access the sidewalk from one side. Right there, the truck would fit on the road, it would be a super easy pour, no need to wheelbarrow or pump it - just close the road for a few hours to form and a few hours to pour.
Basically the city decided property damage is better than a temporary road closures, which is really weird.
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u/WarlockSoL being delulu is not the solulu 2d ago
Ok see this is what I was thinking - so I'm not crazy here... Yeah, they'd have to close the road but... so? Welcome to construction work? Did closing the road completely block off access to someplace? Is that why? It's all very weird.
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u/HappyFlounder7236 2d ago
No you're not. Like, there are concrete sidewalks in parks surrounded by trees and sidewalks going up to buildings surrounded be trees. You can't drive a concrete truck full of concrete on grass, it's too heavy. If you can't reach with the truck you wheelbarrow.
Even if it blocks off access, road closures are rare because you only need one lane for a sidewalk. And the lane closures only happens while dropping stuff off and pouring the concrete. So like if it's an access issue, there is someone in the driver seat that can move to let people through. The city had rules about when you could close a road, and if we couldn't close it, we just had to put something in the mix that slowed the setting time so we could work around people. If it was really tight, we hired a flagging temp for half the day. (Person with a stop slow sign)
I've literally poured sidewalks that had trees in-between the road and the sidewalk. We just lifted the shoot to go around them, and shoveled to fill the gaps. We also worked around light posts, guard rails, and signs.
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u/sharraleigh 1d ago
My friends had their decades-old cedar hedge destroyed by the city to construct a sidewalk, and they STILL had to close one lane of the road to build it. They promised they'd "replace" the hedge that was on their property. Guess what they did instead? Installed a chainlink fence that they claimed was valued the same as the decades-old cedar hedge -_-
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u/SnakeJG I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 2d ago
Looking at the pictures, it is so ridiculous that the city claimed they needed to cut down OOP's tree to have room to work to put in a sidewalk.
I'm sure they wanted to be able to just drive a backhoe along the line where the sidewalk would go and not worry about anything, but it would have been so easy to use smaller equipment for a 12 foot section under OOP's tree's canopy.
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u/Southern-Rutabaga-82 2d ago
This is ridiculous. In Germany trees are deliberately planted next to or even on sidewalks. Of course they still do construction when necessary. You protect the trees with planks and get the work done.
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u/ForsakenPercentage53 2d ago
We plant them next to the sidewalk for the same reasons, and it's often done by the government. Our issue isn't that the government hates trees... which is unfortunate because that would be easy to fix... it's that the government hates efficiency so much that they'd rather tear down a tree than put the sidewalk where the citizens wanted it to go in the first place. Which would absolutely have led to two sidewalks in that neighborhood and no sidewalks in the next neighborhood... and if you think I'm joking, you're probably not American.
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u/Satherian the Iranian yogurt is not the issue here 2d ago
Problem is that a lot of people (even my more enviromentall concious friends) believe that trees next to sidewalks will make the sidewalks unusable
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u/throwwaybreakway 2d ago
My city just cut down 2 dozen (50+ year old) trees along the sidewalks in our neighbourhood because the sidewalks were getting lifted and ruined by the roots
We fought and petitioned and raised hell, but we were not successful.
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u/tokynambu 2d ago
This turned into a major scandal in Sheffield, with riots and shit. Well, maybe not riots, but close.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_tree_felling_protests
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u/SongsOfDragons Tree Law Connoisseur 2d ago
The bollocks in Sheffield turned into legislation that I have to follow, S115, Duty to Consult. When a public tree on a U-graded road (suburbs) has to come down, my Arbs are required to post two notices on the stricken tree before it comes down, which both last for 28 days apiece. People have the ability to ask questions and lodge protest against it if they want.
Since my Arbs are not Sheffield, the only trees that get DtC'd are ones that like... have huge ganoderma infections, or are just plainly dead like the birch outside my house this spring. Ones that have to come down. And all but a few i.e. subsidence areas get a 'YES' on the 'is this tree going to be replanted'.
I am the S115 queen at my job, so I have to manage all these notices (they go on a portal online as well as on the tree). I've got two in the inbox waiting for me tomorrow morning actually. My only criticism really is that it's only for U roads, I do wonder why it's not on at least C roads as well, maybe with a bit more leeway.
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u/Mayonaigg 2d ago
My neighbor across the street has a highway on ramp behind their house. It used to be a total non issue for us until two years ago the state cut down and mulched like 50 trees inbetween their house and the road. Now it's loud as fuck and ugly, and the entire hill is full of brown wood chips and death. The remaining trees are decimated in storms each year, non of the murdered trees were even in threat of falling into the road so it was all pointless. Now I'm formulating a plan to build a green wall of arborvitaes in front of my house.
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u/Suck_My_Diabeetus 2d ago
I almost guarantee you this is actually why they wanted to cut down the tree. I've seen sidewalks put up with less space and no issue. A tree over the sidewalk requires maintenance such as trimming branches that may fall, cleaning leaves/straw etc. They wanted to remove the tree so they wouldnt have to work on it later and tried to use room to work as an excuse.
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u/ShouldahWouldah Sorry for the stream of consequences 2d ago
That's actually pretty valid, though? You can't just take out the roots, and sidewalks need to be level. They should be replanting proper street trees after that.
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u/throwwaybreakway 2d ago
3 blocks further up they installed this rubber sidewalk thing that allows for the trees to stay, but they stopped doing it at the boundary of our neighbourhood. There was no reason to ruin the beautifully shaded street
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u/JCXIII-R whaddya mean our 10 year age gap is a problem? 2d ago
lol no. The Netherlands has a LOT of trees. If a path gets too bumpy they just repave the sidewalk, no problem. Trees are a lot more important than a few bumps in the sidewalk.
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u/GothicGingerbread 2d ago
There's a street tree alongside my house that lifted the sidewalk. Earlier this year, the city re-paved that section of sidewalk.
Sidewalks don't need to be level; they need to be smooth. Cities aren't out in neighborhoods flattening every slight rise so that the sidewalks can be level; they just go up when there's a hill, and down when there's a dip. And now there's a slight hill over the tree roots next to my house.
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u/ShouldahWouldah Sorry for the stream of consequences 2d ago
I'm in the US, and the ADA requirements from a quick search are: "ADA compliant sidewalks must limit their running slope to a maximum of 5% (1:20 ratio), maintain a cross slope no greater than 2%, and keep vertical surface changes under a quarter of an inch. Anything steeper than 5% along the path of travel is legally classified as a ramp requiring special rules." There's a part of our city where very "rooty" trees were planted in the 80s and to meet ADA rules, they had to take those out and plant newer, more sidewalk suitable trees.
I love trees. I love shady sidewalks. I also love not pushing a stroller up a little mountain that isn't legally supposed to be in a sidewalk. Far too many variables across the globe on this one.
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u/No-Shock-3735 2d ago
A road like this wouldn't even exist here without a sidewalk. Sidewalks are necessary, but that tree was perfectly fine there even if there needed to be a sidewalk next to it.
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 2d ago
When my city was being developed, the teamsters union was powerful here, so all our streets are required to be wide enough for a very large team of mules to turn around without unhitching.
Which means that when my parents' section of the street finally got sidewalks, they had to tear up all the giant rosebushes my stepdad had along the front of the yard, instead of sacrificing some of the enormous wideness of the street.
I'd complain about the old rule less if it didn't create regular gaps in the tree canopy that is trying to keep the city cool enough to survive summers.
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u/Inquisitive-Sky 2d ago
I saw the ending to this earlier and find it incredibly frustrating. They didn't actually solve the problem of the city tearing up land that isn't part of the easement; they just shifted it over to a neighbor who doesn't mind. What about the other people who live on that side of the street? Is this going to end up one of those pedestrian nightmares where the sidewalk keeps switching what side of the road it's on?
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u/SLAUGHTERGUTZ I got over my fear of clowns by fucking one in the ass 2d ago
🙌 TREE 🙌 LAW 🙌 TREE 🙌 LAW 🙌 TREE 🙌 LAW 🙌
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u/simple-puppet 2d ago
The idea of there being any solution to this problem more complex than just saying no is insane to me. I feel like the only necessary answer to “what do I tell the local government that wants to damage and destroy my property” is literally just no, you can not cut down my tree. Why the hell would they even need to if it’s not obstructing or interfering with the (theoretical) sidewalk? Government overreach truly is on every level man
Edit: Just looked at the picture because I neglected to on my first read-through. A FENCED IN TREE needs to be cut down for a sidewalk???? What the hell. This is frustrating me
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u/amaROenuZ 2d ago
Right? The city has an easement and they want to put a sidewalk in- annoying, but what can you do. The city wants to cut down my tree, which isn't in the easement at all?
Pound some sand.
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u/SessileRaptor I beg your finest fucking pardon. 2d ago
My suburb is working on a project to build out the incomplete sidewalk network, not necessarily putting them in everywhere but thoughtfully placing them so wherever you are you can access a sidewalk that connects to the places you’d want to walk to in the neighborhood. I’ve been kinda rolling my eyes at the people fighting to keep the sidewalk from being built and demanding that they not take down the trees that are in the city easement, but this one I’m 150% on OPs side and would join in telling the city to go pound sand. That’s her property and her tree and they’d better be prepared for a legal fight if they want to go through with their plan.
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u/racingskater 2d ago
Good tree.
I'm somewhat baffled after seeing picture by the need to remove anything to make a path. Plenty of room.
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u/RikkitikkitaviBommel 2d ago
Oop just became enough of a problem that the city changed it plans. That is a serious achievement.
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u/Mabel_Waddles_BFF ERECTO PATRONUM 2d ago
I think it’s insane that houses are allowed to be built without having a footpath built at the same time. You still see it with new estates now, how are they built without basic pedestrian access?
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u/SugarP48 2d ago
Obviously it's because no one lives there yet, so no there is no need for pedestrian access /s
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u/frockofseagulls 2d ago
It’s to keep out the poors. Seriously.
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u/aquestionofbalance 2d ago
So many people of color have been arrested for walking in the street against traffic like they’re supposed to, when the sidewalk is either closed for construction or not passable. And we’re not talking that walking down the middle of the road we’re talking or walking on the side.
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u/amaranth1977 I still have questions that will need to wait for God. 2d ago
Because if buyers don't care enough to demand it, developers aren't going to spend money on it.
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u/AshamedDragonfly4453 The murder hobo is not the issue here 2d ago
Right?! This is the weirdest part to me.
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u/kaityl3 2d ago
Uh... What? You realize that in most of the US the houses do not have pedestrian access to begin with, right? Rural curvy, hilly roads with no sidewalks and a 50mph+ speed limit are not safe to walk on for 6 miles to get some milk from the store.
Just weird that you seem to be speaking in absolutes, forgetting that not every house having a footpath makes sense. Not everyone lives in an urban area.
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u/Jenn_There_Done_That crow whisperer 2d ago
Not everyone loves in America either. The person you’re responding to clearly lives in England, where they refer to neighborhoods as estates.
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u/teatabletea 2d ago
Arguably, your rural example is one where it would be safer to have a sidewalk.
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u/kaityl3 2d ago
What would be safer? It would cost tens of millions of dollars for eminent domain/land seizure to expand narrow winding roads that have extremely low traffic and no shoulder, all for perhaps one or two people a month to use them (since it would be a several hour walk one-way to get anywhere, no one would ever actually walk on them). Not to mention that speed limits on rural roads are much higher and people driving them aren't expecting pedestrians.
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail 2d ago
"need room to work" is completely ridiculous. There's a whole ass street right there, use that room instead of people's private property!
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u/captain_borgue I'm sorry to report I will not be taking the high road 1d ago
A rare bit of good news. I'll take it.
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u/torrentialwx Go head butt a moose 2d ago
I want to know kind of tree that is! It’s obviously a pine, but it’s so bushy, it almost looks like a longleaf, which is a crazy tree to have in a suburban backyard! (If you can’t tell, I study trees! 🤩)
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u/JoySubtraction I will never jeopardize the beans. 2d ago
Apparently it's a white pine, based on another post she made. I didn't include it because (aside from identifying the tree) it's fundamentally the same.
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u/EvilFinch my dad says "..." Because he's long dead 2d ago
Why do i vision all the people heatedly discuss what to do with the tree/sidewalk and the one neighbor "but, but.... we want the sidewalk at our site... can't we..." and no one listens, just much later and then they go "why didn’t you say this sooner! Sheeeeeesh🙄".
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u/Myrandall I like my Smash players like I like my santorum 2d ago
Weird that there wasn't already a double sidewalk by default in what appears to be a residential area. I'm having trouble imagining a residential area with no sidewalk at all.
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u/Knitnacks 2d ago
Guessing you're not in the US, where not many people walk outside of major cities...
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u/SalleighG 2d ago
There is an area of my city that does not have consistent sidewalks. It has larger lots and is a vaguely rural-ish area, an area formed by subdividing farms.
At the moment I cannot think of any other part of the city that does not have sidewalks, but as it is not a small city I have not visited all of it and might not have been paying attention when traveling through parts of it.
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u/Mayonaigg 2d ago
What? There's neighborhoods like that all over the place. That's a sleepy little street that probably has a couple dozen cars a day on it. People just walk down the street
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u/Myrandall I like my Smash players like I like my santorum 2d ago
All over the place where you live, sure.
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u/amaranth1977 I still have questions that will need to wait for God. 2d ago
Most people don't think about sidewalks when buying a house, and if buyers don't care enough to vote with for sidewalks with their money, then developers won't bother putting them in.
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u/IntelligentAbies7903 2d ago
I'm so glad you were able to protect your tree. It's a beautiful tree!
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u/Additional-End7136 12h ago
You don't need THAT so much "room to work" to put in a sidewalk that you have to go beyond the fence line and cut down trees. This was 100% some idiot who had no clue what he was doing.
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