Tangipahoa Parish, LA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 36-113(c) requires every major subdivision and special use residential commercial development to preserve a 25-foot perimeter buffer of undisturbed green space, which can count toward the chapter's separate requirement that at least 20 percent of the development's gross area serve as stormwater management area. Within that buffer, and on individual lots that fall inside it, paragraph (3) allows only selective tree removal, and the removal has to be justified by tree species, disease or decay, not by convenience or development plans. Before any cutting happens, the developer must submit a tree removal plan and get it pre-approved by the parish planning department.

The same buffer cannot be disturbed or modified for anything else, such as access or infrastructure connectivity, without the parish engineer's separate approval under paragraph (1), and paragraph (2) bars placing fill in the buffer altogether. Removing trees outside this approved process carries consequences under Section 36-8(c): unauthorized removal within an undisturbed stormwater management area, or grubbing there before a land clearing permit issues, triggers a full vegetation remediation requirement, replacing the cleared area with a planting mix of Class A trees (minimum four-inch caliper, 18 feet tall), Class B trees and shrubs sized and spaced to the parish's remediation standards, bonded and watered for two years by the contractor. Section 36-10 separately restricts what species may be planted in these buffers to a parish-approved native list.