Bristol, PA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 25-107 of the Bristol Borough Code is the permit rule for shade trees. No person may, without first obtaining a permit, cut, break, climb with spurs, injure in any manner or remove any shade tree. The same permit requirement covers cutting down or interfering in any way with the main roots of a shade tree, and spraying a shade tree with any chemical or insecticide. It also covers placing any rope, guy wire, cable, sign, poster or other fixture on a shade tree or its guard, and injuring, misusing or removing any device placed to protect a shade tree. The one exception is immediate necessity for the protection of life and property.

Under § 25-101, a shade tree is any tree, shrub or other woody plant on any public highway in the Borough, or the part of one extending within the lines of a public highway, and a public highway is any street, sidewalk or alley open to the public.

Removal is also a duty in some cases. Section 25-102 makes the property owner responsible for removing damaged, diseased or dead trees on property they own or along streets, alleys or sidewalks abutting it. An owner must also remove a shade tree that is damaging the surrounding sidewalk or curbing and creating a danger to the public. If the owner does not act after notification by the Borough, the Borough can do the work, and the cost of removal plus 10% for administrative costs is liened against the property. All tree removals require a permit issued by the Borough on proper application, and where an owner removes a shade tree, a replacement tree is planted in the same location at the owner's expense.

The application follows § 25-103: written, to the Inspector, naming the work, the exact location and the species, then decided by Borough Council. Section 25-109 requires guards at shade trees near any building operation before work starts.