WOODBURY, MN (WNN) – The Woodbury City Council approved a loan program to help homeowners pay for the removal of trees infected by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). 

The program will provide loans up to $20,000 modeled after an approach that provides financial assistance for road projects. City staff hope the program will prompt more homeowners to remove the trees before the city has to enforce condemnation and removal. 

“This is a great new policy, and I’m so glad council has been incredibly supportive of this,” City Administrator Clint Gridley told the council.

The city first confirmed the presence of EAB in Ash trees in the parking lot of the Woodbury Theater in August 2017.

City staff have been removing infected trees and treating healthy ones on public property since then.

Funding for the $500,000 in financial assistance would come from the city’s general fund and be paid back over time. The assistance of up to $20,000 would be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The interest rate would be set at two percent over Woodbury’s borrowing rate. The loans will be paid back in three, five, or 10 years.

The city removed 479 trees in 2024 while planting 945.