Chapel Hill, NC Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Section 5.7.6 of the Land Use Management Ordinance, Rare and Specimen Trees, defines a rare tree as any healthy living pine with a trunk diameter of thirty-six inches or more, or another species with a diameter at breast height of twenty-four inches or more, twelve inches or more for North Carolina native species on the ordinance's list of genera, a state or national champion recognized by the North Carolina Forest Service or the American Forestry Association, a tree providing unique habitat for a federally protected endangered or threatened species, or a tree the town council has cited as historically significant.

A property owner can voluntarily register a rare tree with the town under subsection (c). Registration survives a change of ownership if the transfer document carries the right language, and it comes with real privileges: free consultation with the town's urban forester on proper care, and evidence that a variance under Section 4.12.2 has been satisfied if saving the tree requires an adjustment to a permitted auxiliary structure or addition. The town manager can also let voluntary registration substitute for all or part of the tree canopy mitigation payments otherwise required under the ordinance's canopy standards.

An owner can pull a tree from the register later at their own request, so the program stays voluntary throughout. On development sites, subsection (b) separately requires rare and specimen trees within fifty feet of proposed disturbance to be surveyed and shown on the landscape protection plan, and bars removing a rare tree unless the town manager finds no reasonable way to develop, improve or maintain the property and still save it.