Sugar Land, TX Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 2-388 governs Tree Preservation for every use in the City other than residential uses in the HR-1 district, which instead follow the separate rules at Sec. 2-160. The landscape plan required under Article XV must show every Protected Tree, wooded area, and dense shrubbery patch on the site and identify which will be preserved and which removed (Sec. 2-388(B)). 1 or identified as a hardwood by the Texas A&M Forest Service. Section 2-388(C) requires improvements to be designed, whenever reasonably possible, to preserve a Protected Tree, but gives the Director authority to approve removal where the development cannot reasonably preserve it; an owner who preserves a Protected Tree instead earns credit toward 2 of the trees otherwise required elsewhere on the site.

Where the Director does approve removal, Sec. 2-388(D) requires the landscape plan to provide 2 replacement trees of like type for each Protected Tree removed, on top of any other trees the Article already requires. The Director also has authority under Sec. 2-388(E) to require preservation of existing trees or shrubs, whether protected or not, that already serve as an effective buffer or screen, so long as preservation will not unduly interfere with the site's development, and any such preserved vegetation earns credit against the project's landscaping requirements. Replacement and new trees must meet the planting standards of Sec. 1 unless the Director approves an alternate.