I came home to the city installing a fire hydrant under my tree. The dig starts 9’ from the base of the tree. I am concerned this is too close to the tree and I’m looking for advice. The tree at 4’ is 120” in diameter. I took some pictures for reference. I’ll be calling with city an an arborist in the morning.
by Analysis-Mediocre
6 Comments
I would recommend posting this to r/treelaw
That is not a 10 foot wide tree. Did you mean circumference?
WTF are they doing in a town that looks like buttfuck nowhere at the end of a cul de sac
I work for a contracting company that does work like this every day. We regularly tear into root systems much more than this example.
Your tree will be fine.
If you want to embarrass yourself with the city admins and make a big stink out of nothing, go ahead. They are used to it. While you’re on the phone with them, at least thank them for the water system they are maintaining for you
Don’t underestimate the resilience of trees.
Id look into it thats an oak tree which might be protected given they’re becomin rarer due to oak wilt.
It’s very likely not *your* tree.
Could’ve been more delicate but they’re also unlikely to have an SSAT/the time to root prune if this is a small town.
They have a limited budget to make sure pipes get fixed, hydrants get installed, etc.
I can’t tell how far it is from your house. While it’s way closer to the tree than I’d prefer, there’s also a street on the opposite side of the trench.
For future reference, Diameter at breast height (4.5ft) is the standard we tend to use for measuring trees.