Answered for Cicero, Hamilton County.
Carpenter ants do not eat wood and cannot chew sound heartwood. They hollow galleries in wood already softened by moisture and decay fungi. Their presence tells you a decay pocket exists inside the trunk, usually larger than it appears from outside, and that it stays wet. The ants are tenants, not the cause of the damage — but they are a dependable indicator that the interior is not solid. In Cicero — Stillwater Cove, Morse Landing and Calumet Farms included, that's normally a hazardous tree removal job at $800–$5,000. Within weeks.
Duke Energy is the main electric provider, but the 2025 comprehensive plan notes Jackson Township is served by three utilities — Duke, Indiana Michigan Power (AEP) and Tipton Utilities — so the carrier can change within a few miles. Duke and I&M both fall under the IURC tree-trimming rule (170 IAC 4-9): two weeks' notice, no removal of over 25% of a tree or topping without the owner's permission absent an emergency, no trimming outside the easement or right-of-way without consent, and debris gone within three days.
Cicero has no public street-tree inventory, so species composition is not documented town-wide — but the age structure is: Morse Reservoir's roughly 35 miles of shoreline was about 95% built out with waterfront homes by 2020, and those lakefront lots hold the oldest, largest canopy in town, growing since the 1956 impoundment. Post-2015 subdivisions read very differently, with uniformly young front-yard stock, and ash is gone countywide after emerald ash borer reached all 92 Indiana counties by 2017.
No permit is required to remove a tree. The Cicero/Jackson Township Zoning Ordinance (adopted April 17, 2015) is reported to list normal trimming and removal of trees and shrubs for maintenance or site preparation among the activities allowed with no Improvement Location Permit, and to regulate planting instead — a five-foot setback from sidewalks, streets, curbs, gutters and drainage tile without plan commission approval, and a like-species replacement duty for any tree planted to satisfy landscaping standards. The posted ordinance PDF is not machine-readable, so those provisions are unverified; confirm with the Plan Commission before relying on them.
The strip between sidewalk and street is town or county right-of-way. The zoning ordinance is reported to bar landscaping materials, vegetation, plants, shrubs, trees, retaining walls, bedding, lighting and mounds from extending into any existing or proposed right-of-way or easement without written permission from the agency that established it — meaning the abutting owner cannot plant there unilaterally. That provision is unverified; confirm before planting.
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Distance measured from Cicero.