Landscaping Rules in New Haven, CT (2026)
3 verified landscaping rules for New Haven, Connecticut, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Tree Removal & Heritage Trees
New Haven's park rules bar anyone from digging up, cutting, transplanting, or otherwise damaging any tree, shrub, or plant inside a city park without authorization: a separate rule from the street-tree ordinance.
New Haven City Park Tree Protection Rule
Some RestrictionsNew Haven Code of Ordinances § 19-5(b)(5)
Dig or remove any soil, rock, sand, stone, tree, shrub, plant, wood or other material, or make any excavation by tool, equipment, blasting or other means or agency.(iii)Construct or erect any building or structure for temporary use, or run or string any public service utility into, upon or across any park, except on special written permit from the director or his/her designee(s).(iv)Damage, cut...
Weed Ordinances
New Haven's Anti-Blight and Property Maintenance Ordinance requires kept-up landscaping and caps grass and weeds at one foot on any premises.
New Haven Anti-Blight Landscaping Rule
Some RestrictionsNew Haven Code of Ordinances § 9-51(d)(1)(iv)
All landscaping shall be maintained so that lawns, hedges, bushes and trees shall be kept neatly and free from becoming overgrown and unsightly where exposed to public view and where the same may have a tendency to depreciate adjoining property. The maintenance shall include, but not be limited to, the replacement of trees and shrubs, which may die or otherwise be destroyed. Grass, weeds or sim...
Artificial Turf
New Haven's zoning code defines artificial turf as an impervious surface, not a pervious one, so installing it in a yard counts against the lot's maximum impervious coverage limits, not toward open, permeable ground.
New Haven Excludes Turf From Pervious Area
Some RestrictionsNew Haven Zoning Ordinance § 1 (Definitions – "Permeable or Pervious")
PERMEABLE or PERVIOUS means surfaces which allow for the percolation of water into the underlying soil. Permeable surfaces include but are not limited to grass, mulched groundcover, planted areas, permeable paving as well as porches and decks erected on pier foundations that maintain the covered lot surface's water permeability. Pervious surfaces do not include any structure or building, any po...