CLAREMORE, Okla. — The City of Claremore is taking a proactive approach and hoping tree maintenance in the city will help prevent power outages.

Claremore City Council approved an amendment to the city tree ordinance this week that will make it easier for the city to maintain trees that pose safety hazards in residential areas and throughout the city.

City Manager John Feary said that the city experienced an excessive amount of power outages this year, and a lot of the outages were due to overgrown trees damaging powerlines.

The city plans to work with licensed tree contractors to trim and remove nuisance trees in town.

The amendment changes the process how the city notifies property owners of how they will remove trees that pose a public safety threat or an immediate threat. Council also amended the ordinance regarding tree distance from utilities by lowering the time to appeal from 10 days to three days and removing the option of the city to place a lien on the house.

Feary said the average cost to remove a tree from a residential property can be $1,000 and residents don’t have the funds to remove trees but if it the tree destroys the power lines, that’s the city’s obligation.

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