Irvington, NJ Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Chapter 610's Article II, Shade Trees on Streets, governs trees standing in Irvington's public highways and streets rather than trees on private lots. Section 610-3 makes it unlawful for any person to cut, break, climb, injure or remove a living tree in a public highway, or to injure, misuse or remove a stake, guard or other device placed to protect a street tree or plant. Anyone who wants to cut, trim or remove a shade tree standing in an Irvington street must first apply to the Division of Public Property for a written permit; the work may proceed only in accordance with the conditions the Division sets in that permit.

The surrounding sections protect the same trees once a permit is granted or during construction: § 610-5 bars interfering with the Division's own crews while they plant, mulch, prune or spray a street tree, § 610-6 requires a written permit before anyone paves or cements around a tree's base and sets a minimum nine square feet of open ground at the trunk of a three-inch-diameter tree, and § 610-8 requires any owner erecting or repairing a building near a public-highway tree to install guards that prevent injury to it during the work.

Chapter 610 carries no penalty clause of its own, so a violation of § 610-3 is punished under the Revised Code's general penalty at § 1-17A: a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment of up to 90 days, or both, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.