You may have wondered it before: when a tree gets taken town, when will it get replaced with a new one?

The answer is more than likely ‘it depends’.

For a bit of history—Lakewood began as multi-acreage, undeveloped woodland, and the lake was dug in. Streets, sidewalks, and new plots necessitated the removal of some of those trees. But the developers and builders could only prepare so far into the future, which means some of those streets, sidewalks, and house plots would inevitably butt up against or compete for space with the trees.

The main risk doesn’t come from those trees getting sick or becoming victim to pests that could potentially bring it down on a structure, but by healthy trees doing what healthy trees do: grow. Tree roots have the capacity to be incredibly destructive to infrastructure, including gas and sewer lines, sidewalks, roads, and building foundations. In Lakewood alone, we have an existing replacement cost of $2.5 million for our sidewalks for the last 50 years of wear & tear and buckling caused by trees.

Lee’s Summit has worked with our community to grandfather in trees which were originally alongside the city Right of Way, or ROW. But when/if it comes time for those trees to come down because of ongoing maintenance costs such as heaved sidewalks, limbs overhanging the roads, and the impact to underground utilities, they will not be replaced. New trees may be planted outside of the City Right-of-Way on private property.

Attached HERE is the City of Lee’s Summit City Encroachment Policy, updated in September of 2021 for further reading. See page A-3 for information on trees in City ROW.