Royal Oak, MI Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Section 770-90K of the Royal Oak zoning code governs landscape elements required on private development sites, and subsection K(6), Prohibited species, bars four named species from any landscaping plan submitted for site plan approval: poplar (populus), soft maples (acer), willows (Salix), and box elders (acer). The subsection also folds in whatever additional species Chapter 710, Trees, bars from public areas under § 710-15, Prohibited trees in public areas, so a species barred from City-owned tree lawns and parks is barred from private landscaping plans too.

Because these species are also fast-growing, weak-wooded trees prone to breakage, the code exempts them from the separate tree-preservation and replacement credit rules of § 770-90K(4), meaning a developer cannot count one of these species toward the requirement to replace a removed tree with an equivalent one. The Planning Commission reviews landscaping plans as part of site plan approval and can reject a plan that includes a prohibited species, requiring the applicant to substitute an approved tree from the code's own representative lists of evergreen, narrow evergreen, large deciduous canopy, and small deciduous ornamental trees before a permit or certificate of occupancy is issued.