Norwalk, CA Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

32's Street Tree Ordinance, prohibits planting Poplar, Willow, Cottonwood, fruit trees other than ornamental types, nut trees, Ailantus, Mountain Ash, and Organ or Bigleaf Maple in any street or public place, and extends the ban to any other species the Director of Public Services adds to a public prohibited-trees list. Ailantus is the historic spelling of Ailanthus altissima, the fast-spreading, weak-wooded species commonly known as tree of heaven, notorious for suckering aggressively and damaging sidewalks, curbs and underground utilities with shallow, invasive roots, the same category of harm the ordinance targets.

070 requires Director permission before anyone plants, cuts, trims, or otherwise interferes with a street tree, so a planting application proposing Ailantus or another listed species would be denied outright rather than merely discouraged. 050, any expansion of the prohibited list follows the same administrative process, with the current list kept on file and available to the public through the Director's office rather than reprinted in the Code itself.