Council Bluffs, IA Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

Council Bluffs Municipal Code § 10.52.060 names 'Tree of Heaven-Ailanthus Altissima' directly among the species no person, firm, corporation, association or other legal entity may plant in or upon a public right-of-way or other public property within the city. It appears alongside Pin Oak, Poplars, Russian Olive, Silver Maple, Walnut, Willows and non-hybrid fruiting trees in the same numbered list, and like every other species on it, is also barred by the section's closing catch-all covering any genus, species or variety absent from the city's master street tree plan under § 10.52.070.

That plan, kept and periodically updated by the director of parks, recreation and public property, is the authoritative list of species the city allows in the right-of-way and is open for public inspection at the director's office. The prohibition reaches new plantings on public right-of-way and public property; it does not by its own terms reach an existing Tree of Heaven already growing on private property, though a private tree that interferes with sidewalks, street lighting or traffic visibility from the right-of-way can still trigger the property owner's separate maintenance duty under § 10.52.080.

Anyone proposing to plant street trees under a § 10.52.010 removal-and-replacement permit must check the prohibited list and the master street tree plan before selecting a replacement species, since planting a banned tree in the right-of-way violates § 10.52.060 independent of whatever permit covered the original removal.