Waukesha, WI Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

19, Woodland Preservation, states it is City policy to preserve natural forest and woodland areas, and it lets the Plan Commission give a developer credit toward other site requirements for keeping existing tree stands in place. The operative restriction is direct: no clear cutting of woodland areas is permitted at all in the RS-1, RS-2, and RS-3 residential districts. In every other zoning district, clear cutting, or removing topsoil from a property, is allowed only with a conditional use permit, the same discretionary approval track used for uses like schools, churches, and utility substations elsewhere in Chapter 22.

The section also protects individual trees during development: deciduous shade trees five inches or larger in caliper and coniferous trees ten feet or taller must be preserved unless the developer demonstrates to the Plan Commission's satisfaction that keeping them would unduly restrict development of the site. 18 must be replaced. The ordinance further requires that structures and site amenities be sited to preserve the greatest number of existing trees practical, and that any replanting use a variety of species, excluding species currently under disease epidemic, that are hardy for local conditions.

18 requires a landscape plan showing every tree five inches or larger slated for removal on projects subject to site and architectural review, tree removal and clear-cutting compliance are checked together during that Plan Commission review.