Tree Service in Derby, KS

Plenty of Derby homeowners first call about tree service after a note from the city, not a storm. Derby's municipal code makes homeowners responsible for maintaining trees in the right-of-way, the strip between the sidewalk and the street that many people assume belongs to the city. That means the pruning, the clearance and, if a tree dies or becomes hazardous, the removal.

The clearance numbers to know

The City of Derby's Trees and Shrubs page spells out what it expects:

• Branches over sidewalks must be pruned to at least 8 feet above the walk.
• Branches over streets need at least 12 feet of clearance, which is what lets trash trucks, school buses and street sweepers pass without tearing limbs.
• Trees and shrubs in the right-of-way can't block sight lines to traffic, signs or signals.
• The full width of the sidewalk has to stay open to pedestrians.
• Dead or hazardous trees have to be removed.

We prune to those numbers using proper cuts at the branch collar instead of flush cuts or topping, so the tree seals the wound and doesn't throw out a mess of weak sprouts the next year.

A suburb that grew fast

Derby had 432 residents in 1950 and 6,458 by 1960. The 2020 census counted 25,625, making it the largest suburb of Wichita. That growth came in waves, and you can read it in the trees: older streets near the original El Paso townsite have big shade trees, while neighborhoods built in the last two or three decades have trees that are just now reaching the roofline and the power drops. The younger trees are the ones where a few hundred dollars of structural pruning now saves a removal later.

Planting under wires

Derby's guidance asks residents to avoid planting trees under overhead utility wires and to choose from the city's recommended tree list in its Planting Guide. If a tree is already tangled in a service line, don't prune it yourself; call the utility for anything touching a primary line, and we can handle the rest of the tree once the line is safe.

Storm damage

When the June 17, 2025 windstorm moved through, NWS logged large limbs down in Derby and a power pole leaning over a roadway. In south Sedgwick County, a split limb hanging over a sidewalk is also a code issue, so we'll take care of hangers first and clean up the rest after.

Who decides what?

Derby's Parks and Urban Forestry Board, a seven-member board that advises the Parks Division, also serves as the city's Tree Board. For questions about a specific right-of-way tree or a pruning notice, Derby Public Works is the place to call. For the work itself, call us at (316) 512-2394 or use the form. Get a free estimate