Parma, OH Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

03(a) bars anyone from planting or removing a public, commercial or multi-family residential tree in a treelawn or other public, commercial, multi-family or single-family residential place without a permit from the City Forester, and requires the permit holder to follow accepted arboricultural specifications and standards of practice. Subsection (b) separately requires a permit before excavating, filling, compacting soil, or building any structure, street, sidewalk, driveway, pavement or utility within the dripline, the ground area beneath a tree's outermost branches, of any regulated tree. 05 fee schedule; there is no charge for a tree-planting permit.

Subsection (d) exempts the City itself from the permit requirement, so long as it notifies the City Forester before removing a tree. Subsection (e) is the toughest gate: no permit can issue to remove a commercial or multi-family tree from a commercial, multi-family or single-family residential place unless, for a vacant or undeveloped lot, the owner has first presented a landscaping proposal to the City Planning Commission and had it accepted, or, for a developed lot, the owner has obtained written confirmation from the Building Commissioner that the removal will not conflict with any landscaping plan the City already approved for that lot.