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

Section 82-35 of the Code of Ordinances makes it unlawful for any person to remove, injure or destroy any tree standing in a public right-of-way or on city property in Wyoming, Michigan, which covers the parkway strip many residents maintain between the sidewalk and the curb in front of their homes. The prohibition sits inside Chapter 82's Article II, Trees, which also governs planting: Section 82-31 requires a free permit from the city engineer before planting any tree in a right-of-way, parkway or other public property, and Section 82-32 limits right-of-way plantings to an approved species list, screening out disease-prone varieties such as elm and ash and setting a minimum trunk diameter of one and one-half inches at six inches above ground.

Section 82-34 puts two years of maintenance duty on whoever planted a right-of-way tree, after which the city takes over care, while reserving the city's own right to remove any right-of-way tree at any time it decides to. If a tree's trunk sits on private property but branches overhang the right-of-way, Section 82-36 makes the private owner responsible for trimming hazardous, diseased or dead limbs after city notice, and Section 82-37 requires the owner to remove a diseased or dead tree next to a street, following the same abatement procedure the code uses for weeds if the owner does not act.

None of these sections require a permit to remove a healthy tree located entirely on private property away from the street frontage; Wyoming's Code of Ordinances does not contain a general private-property tree-removal or protected-tree permit requirement outside the right-of-way and parkway context described here.