Wyoming, MI Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 82-35 is one sentence: no person shall remove, injure or destroy any trees in any public right-of-way or on any city property. The section lists no exception, no application process and no fee for removal, so a resident who wants a street tree or parkway tree gone has no permit to apply for under this chapter. Injury is banned alongside removal, so the rule reaches more than felling a tree outright.

Planting is the activity the code lets residents do, and it runs through the city engineer. Under Section 82-31, anyone planting a tree in a public right-of-way, the parkway or any public property first fills out an application furnished by the city engineer and obtains a permit. There is no permit fee. Trees planted under a contract with the city or by city employees are outside the permit requirement. Section 82-33 has the engineer fix the exact location in the permit and requires planting to the specifications written on it.

Section 82-32 sets the review standard. The engineer checks each application for species, location, height and effect on utility lines, canopy width, and nuisances such as droppings or fruit. Disease-prone elm and ash varieties are not permitted, and every tree must measure at least one and one-half inches in diameter six inches above ground level. The approved list names eight oaks and ten maples, and marks only five entries as allowed with overhead conflicts, among them the Japanese tree lilac, star magnolia, trident maple and eastern redbud. The engineer can approve exceptions.

Under Section 82-34 the planter pays to purchase and plant the tree and maintains it for at least two years. The city then assumes all future maintenance if the tree is normal and healthy, and it keeps the right to remove any tree in the right-of-way, parkway or public property at any time. An applicant who does not own the adjoining property needs the owner's written permission.

Private trees are reached only when they threaten the street. Section 82-36 makes the owner of the trunk's property responsible for limbs overhanging the right-of-way, and Section 82-37 requires the owner to remove a diseased or dead tree adjacent to a street.