Sussex County, DE Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

The Perimeter Buffer applies only to major subdivisions of four or more lots and is a protected strip at least 20 feet wide along the outer edge of the development, plus, where it contains Woodlands, a Perimeter Buffer Protection Area at least another 20 feet wide where no lots or stormwater facilities may go. Section 99-21G(1) states that when trees, shrubs, Woodlands or the Buffer itself are removed or damaged without authorization, tree mitigation shall be required, and violations and penalties may be assessed. Subsection G(2)(b) sets the ratio: new Woodlands must be created for the area of Woodlands in the Perimeter Buffer that was illegally accessed or damaged, with at least three replacement trees planted for every tree removed or damaged, under a mitigation plan a licensed landscape architect, certified arborist or licensed forester must prepare, with plantings confined to the same lot, parcel or tract where the violation occurred.

A separate, narrower rule governs trees inside a wetland or stream "resource buffer" under § 115-193: developers may remove any dead, dying, damaged, or unstable live tree from a resource or resource buffer that presents an imminent danger to property or public safety, but nothing healthy. Neither section reaches an ordinary residential lot outside a required buffer; a homeowner clearing trees on an established single-family lot faces no Sussex County tree-removal permit at all.