Rochester Hills, MI Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

Section 106-56(1) lists ten tree species the city will not allow anyone to plant as a street tree in a public street or road right-of-way, and Ailanthus altissima, commonly called tree of heaven, sits third on that list. The other nine are box elder, silver maple, Catalpa species, autumn and Russian olive, mulberry, poplar, buckthorn, willow, and Siberian elm. The city groups tree of heaven with these species because of the same right-of-way concerns that drive the rest of Chapter 106's tree article: weak wood, aggressive suckering root systems, interference with sidewalks, utilities and pavement, and a tendency to crowd out more desirable street trees.

The prohibition applies specifically to new plantings within the right-of-way that the city or an adjacent property owner controls; a permit under Section 94-33 is required for any private owner planting a street tree at all, and a prohibited species will not be approved regardless of the applicant's preference. Because the ban sits inside the street tree planting article rather than the separate tree conservation article in Chapter 126 or the natural resources chapter, it does not reach an existing tree of heaven already growing on private property, and the code does not set out an eradication program for the species.

Where a tree of heaven on private land threatens a right-of-way, sidewalk or public utility, the general private-tree provisions in Sections 106-91 through 106-93 (root and branch encroachment, structurally unsound trees) still apply regardless of species.