The City of Perry is working on a new ordinance regarding trees in the right of way following the recent derecho storm.

Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson says he’s working on a resolution to bring to the City Council to eliminate trees in the right of way within City limits. Peterson says he loves the aesthetic of having tree-lined streets, but having trees near the roads is causing problems, “This only helps with storms, like what we’ve had branches falling into the streets, leaves falling into the streets, but also helping keep those branches off the utility lines in the right of ways. A project that we are also consistently working on is cleaning our sewer system. And that’s one of the largest issues we have in our sewer system; it’s those tree roots getting into the sewer lines and causing backups. This will help take care of both of those issues and relieve some of those problems.”

According to Peterson, this measure is geared more towards eliminating trees in the right of way moving forward and wouldn’t necessarily be retroactive to existing trees. Peterson says he hopes to have a drafted resolution for the September 8th City Council meeting.