Elmhurst's tree canopy is shrinking, and a local advocacy group wants the City Council to act before more mature trees disappear to development.
The Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition presented before-and-after Google Earth images to the council's Committee of the Whole on Monday, Oct. 19, showing residential and commercial properties stripped of trees after construction, Patch reported. The coalition also submitted a written statement detailing the scope of the loss.
The group cited data from the Chicago Region Trees Initiative, a regional program that measures urban tree cover using satellite imagery and LiDAR. The initiative completed two Elmhurst-specific snapshots, in 2010 and 2017. Canopy coverage fell from 29% to 28% over those seven years.
That single percentage point translates to an estimated 3,000 trees lost in a decade, the coalition said, based on roughly 65,000 trees citywide.
Barbara Lonergan, a coalition member, told the council the group appreciated the city's decision this year to spend $10,000 on private-property tree planting. That money produced 20 to 40 new trees. But the coalition wants more funding.
"Our community will save money in the long run by funding additional private property tree preservation efforts now," Lonergan said. She connected tree preservation to stormwater management, arguing the two go hand in hand.
Lonergan also pointed to city research showing that 15 of 31 nearby towns already have ordinances protecting trees on private property during new construction. Elmhurst does not.
In its written statement, the coalition argued that a permit system for tree removal would let the city track its own planting and removal data over time. The group said mature canopy "is being lost, is not being tracked, and without planning and protections, will not be easily replaced."
The coalition compiled the before-and-after images in February 2026, redacting addresses to protect property-owner privacy. The question of canopy loss first came before the city's Public Works and Buildings Committee on Jan. 12, according to the coalition's statement.
No council member commented publicly on the coalition's request during the Oct. 19 meeting, according to Patch's account. No vote was taken on the matter.
