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

Chapter 153 is Southborough's tree chapter, and its removal rule is § 153-3. The care and management of public trees is the responsibility of the Tree Warden or that official's designee, who plants, maintains and removes trees from streets, parks and other designated public places in accordance with M.G.L. c. 87, § 2. Under § 153-2 the Town follows M.G.L. c. 87, Shade Trees, to the extent applicable. Section 153-4 adds the Town's policy of encouraging the conservation of public shade trees, which is the standard the Tree Warden works under.

The chapter prints no procedure for a resident to request removal of a public tree, no hearing step, no fee and no replacement ratio. It also prints no permit or diameter threshold for cutting a tree on private land.

Private-land tree loss is reached only through other bylaws. For projects that need site plan approval, § 174-10(D)(1)(a) requires the design to minimize, among other things, "the number of removed trees six inches in caliper and larger," along with the volume of cut and fill, the length of removed stone walls, and soil erosion. The Wetlands Protection chapter, Chapter 170, defines ALTER to include "Destruction of plant life, including cutting of trees" when undertaken to, upon, within or affecting resource areas protected by that chapter, so tree cutting in or near a protected resource area counts as an alteration under that bylaw rather than falling under Chapter 153.

Large clearing jobs also meet Chapter 154. A stormwater and erosion control permit from the Conservation Commission is required under § 154-3 for land disturbance of one acre or more. The Commission's findings under § 154-9(A)(7) call for an approved planting plan to ensure permanent revegetation where the site is not covered with gravel, hardscape, or a building or structure.