Tree Protection in James City County, VA (2026)
2 rules for unincorporated James City County, Virginia.
Verified from official government sources
Heritage & Protected Trees
James City County's closest landmark-tree category is the 'outstanding specimen tree' under Zoning Ordinance § 24-93: a tree the planning director designates for exceptional size, form, shape, spread or quality using the county's own Outstanding Specimen Tree Designation guidelines and form. Preserving one earns a developer five planted-tree credits under § 24-95, the highest tier in the county's tree credit chart.
James City County Outstanding Specimen Trees
Light RestrictionsJames City County Code §§ 24-93, 24-95(c)
Type Character Minimum Size ... Outstanding Specimen Tree Free of disease and significant damage or which is notable by virtue of its outstanding size, form, shape, spread, and quality for its particular species as determined by the planning director or his designee per the Outstanding Specimen Tree Designation guidelines and form. Trees designated as outstanding specimens by the planning direc...
Parkway Planting
In multi-family and apartment developments of two or more units, James City County's Zoning Ordinance § 24-102 requires deciduous shade trees planted as street trees along every right-of-way frontage. Trees must sit within the right-of-way or a five-foot preservation easement, spaced about every 40 feet, at a minimum 1½-inch caliper at planting.
James City County Street Tree Planting Rules
Some RestrictionsJames City County Code § 24-102(1)-(3)
(1)Deciduous shade trees shall be planted as street trees along all right-of-ways within the development. Such trees shall be located either within the right-of-way or within a five-foot landscape preservation easement contiguous to such right-of-way. Where located within an easement, the easement shall be dedicated, together with a maintenance easement, to the property owners' association or o...
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