Landscaping Rules in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pennsylvania PUC regulations universally authorize utilities to trim or remove trees within rights-of-way and easements…

In Allentown, the owner of property abutting a public right-of-way is responsible for the care and maintenance of any…

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation has exclusive control of all street trees under Philadelphia Code Section 15-203. A…

Bethlehem property owners must keep trees along their public right-of-way pruned to maintain 8 feet of clearance over…

Delaware County does not regulate tree trimming on residential streets. In municipalities that have adopted the…

Erie requires trees to be kept clear at 14 feet above the street and 9 feet above the sidewalk, and any planting or…

In Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, property owners must remove or trim trees and limbs growing in a…

Lancaster County sets no tree-trimming rule. Under the PA Shade Tree Act, a municipality's shade-tree commission or…

Montgomery County sets no countywide tree-trimming rule for private yards. Street-tree trimming is a municipal…

Pittsburgh property owners must trim trees whose limbs extend into a public street, block free passage, obstruct a…

Pottstown property owners must keep trees on their land trimmed to a 14 foot clearance over any street or alley and…

Reading requires shade trees to be trimmed to at least 14 feet above the street and 8 feet above the sidewalk, and lets…

City Code § 434-1 makes it unlawful for any property owner to let shade trees, hedges or shrubs grow so overgrown that…

Upper Darby requires nine feet of clearance where a tree overhangs a public sidewalk and 11 feet where it overhangs a…

Under Philadelphia Code Section 14-705(1)(e), heritage trees on a development lot may not be removed unless the…

Allegheny County caps how much woodland a subdivision or land development can clear, no more than 50% of mature…

Removing a tree from a Bethlehem public area, including the right-of-way in front of a home, requires a Director of…

A Pottstown property owner cannot remove a street tree without a Public Works Director permit under Chapter 25, Section…

Scranton bars anyone, including a city department, from removing a street, park or public tree without permission from…

Berks County issues no tree-removal permit for private property. Any permit or replacement requirement is municipal…

Chester County issues no tree-removal permit. Permits are municipal, most often for street/shade trees, and any…

Delaware County issues no tree-removal permit. For street trees, the local shade-tree commission controls removal under…

In Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, existing woodland, hedgerows and trees with a trunk diameter of six…

Tree-removal permits are municipal, not county-level (street trees need a permit under the PA Shade Tree Act)…

Lehigh County's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance requires subdivisions and land developments on covered sites…

Montgomery County has no countywide private-tree-removal ordinance. Removing a tree on your own land is generally…

The Municipality of Penn Hills regulates planting, trimming, and removal of trees and vegetative growth citywide…

Pittsburgh requires a Department of Public Works permit before removing, cutting down, or trimming any tree or shrub…

Reading's City Arborist can order a property owner to prune or remove a hazardous private tree; if the owner refuses…

Upper Darby requires a written Shade Tree Commission permit before any street tree is removed under Code § 506-4, and §…

York County requires no permit to remove a single tree, but clearing land that disturbs 5,000 square feet or more…

The Pennsylvania Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Act requires all property owners statewide to control designated…

Allentown defines weeds broadly as rank vegetable growth (grass, ragweed, dandelion, brush, and similar vegetation)…

Philadelphia Property Maintenance Code Section PM-302.4 bars weeds or plant growth over 10 inches and prohibits all…

Bethlehem caps noxious weeds and grass at one foot tall on any lot within 200 feet of a building or public…

The City of Erie's adopted property-maintenance standard requires premises to be kept free of weeds and plant growth…

In Franklin Township's residential areas, Section 10-102 defines 'excess growth' as any vegetation taller than 12…

Lancaster County sets no weed ordinance; your municipality does (e.g., Lancaster City's six-inch limit). Statewide…

Montgomery County sets no countywide weed ordinance. Noxious weeds and overgrown vegetation are a municipal…

Penn Hills bans noxious weeds and plant growth over 10 inches tall within 200 feet of any structure, and the same limit…

Pittsburgh requires property owners to cut noxious weeds and mow grass to no more than six inches, or face a nuisance…

Pottstown's Property Maintenance Code amendment, Section 302.4, requires every premises and exterior property within…

Reading caps grass, weeds and plant growth on any property at six inches; the City can serve a notice of violation and…

Scranton caps weeds and grass at eight inches on any lot in the city under Code § 434-25. Canada thistle, ragweed…

Upper Darby caps weeds and uncultivated grass at 10 inches under its adopted Property Maintenance Code, and separately…

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Services Code authorizes the Governor to impose mandatory statewide drought water-use…

Allentown has no permanent day-of-week or time-of-day lawn-watering ordinance. Outdoor watering is restricted only when…

Berks County sets no routine watering schedule. Statewide, when the Governor declares a drought emergency, 4 Pa. Code…

Bethlehem can order mandatory water conservation during a supply shortage, and the first thing it bans is outdoor…

There are no permanent county watering rules. During a Governor-declared drought emergency, Pennsylvania law bans…

Delaware County publishes no lawn-watering schedule. Mandatory outdoor-water restrictions in Pennsylvania take effect…

Erie has no city lawn-watering ordinance in normal conditions; Pennsylvania state law (4 Pa. Code Chapter 119)…

Franklin Township bans lawn watering, pool filling and most other nonessential water uses the moment the Township, DEP…

Montgomery County does not set a watering schedule. Pennsylvania is not under permanent western-style outdoor-watering…

Philadelphia has no permanent calendar or odd/even lawn-watering schedule. Outdoor irrigation is generally…

Pittsburgh has no standing outdoor watering ban. PA Code Chapter 119 authorizes restrictions only during declared…

Bethlehem's stormwater ordinance treats rain barrels and cisterns as an approved Capture/Reuse best management practice…

Reading permits rain barrels for property owners and consenting tenants, capped at 75 gallons and six feet tall, but…

Scranton's zoning code exempts a functional rain barrel connected to a roof downspout from its yard-setback rules, as…

Erie's zoning code expressly allows rain barrels on urban garden and market garden sites under Zoning Ordinance Section…

Philadelphia zoning lets rainwater harvesting barrels encroach into required side and rear yards, but not within 2 feet…

Within a riparian buffer easement created during subdivision or land development along a qualifying stream, Penn Hills…

Any new landscaping placed inside Philadelphia's mandatory 50-foot waterfront setback has to come from the native and…

Pittsburgh property owners may install and maintain native-plant landscaping, rain gardens, and pollinator gardens…

Pottstown's zoning code lets property owners plant a native-species managed meadow instead of mowed turf, but only on…

Allegheny County's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance encourages developers to plant hardy indigenous species…

Bethlehem's subdivision and land development code encourages native plant species in required landscaping but does not…

Erie's Zoning Ordinance Section 206.15(d)(3)G lets an Industrial Park property owner treat part of the site as natural…

Allentown's zoning code lets property owners plant a native meadow instead of a mowed lawn to satisfy the…

Franklin Township's weed ordinance only reaches residential lots. Section 10-101 excludes farmland and land kept in a…

Reading's property-maintenance code caps weeds and grass at six inches, but cultivated and managed plantings, including…

Allentown's abandoned-property registry law lists artificial turf or sod designed for residential installation as…

Erie's vacant and foreclosure property maintenance rule, Article 749, names artificial turf or sod designed for…

Pottstown's abandoned-property maintenance standard, Borough Code § 1507, lists artificial turf or sod 'designed…

Pittsburgh classifies composting as urban agriculture under its zoning code and requires compost structures to sit at…

Erie runs its own composting program through the Bureau of Refuse and Recycling covering grass clippings, lawn and leaf…

Philadelphia zoning lets odorless composting equipment sit in required side and rear yards, but it must stay at least 2…

Pottstown's solid waste code does not set backyard bin standards, but it does build composting into the ordinance…

Upper Darby's code does not license or regulate a home compost bin; it simply excuses a resident from the leaf-waste…