Lawrence, MA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 12.04.090 is a single, sweeping grant of authority: 'The care and control of all shade trees in the streets and ways of the city, with the right to remove the same, is vested in the board of park commissioners.' No private party, contractor, or utility can decide to cut down a street tree in Lawrence; only the park commissioners hold that power, and the ordinance carries forward almost verbatim from prior code § 24-20. The surrounding sections back this up with companion prohibitions: § 12.04.070 makes it unlawful for anyone to 'injure, deface or destroy any street sign, light post, bulb, fixture or lantern thereon, or any tree, post or other thing set, erected or made for the use or ornament of the city,' and § 12.04.080 separately bars injuring, defacing or destroying 'any shade or ornamental tree, shrub or any plant or fixture' on the Commons specifically.

None of these sections sets a dollar penalty of its own, so a violation falls back on the Code's general penalty clause at § 1.16.10, which caps fines at $300.00 per offense under General Laws c. 40 § 21D, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense. The chapter is silent on any homeowner permit process for trees on private property; the board of park commissioners' authority under § 12.04.090 reaches only trees standing in the city's own streets and ways.