Novi, MI Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Under City Code § 37-6.5, any person may nominate a tree in the City of Novi for historic or specimen designation using a form from the community development department. Historic nominations are judged against six statutory criteria: association with a notable person, with the nation's, state's or city's history or development, with an eminent educator or institution, with art, literature, law, music, science or cultural life, with early forestry or conservation, or with American Indian history, legend or lore. Specimen nominations turn on size and health, measured against a caliper table set out in the section: 24 inches DBH for oak, maple, ash, hickory, walnut, ginkgo, sycamore, spruce and tulip tree; 18 inches for birch and buckeye; and as little as 10 inches for flowering dogwood.

Where someone other than the owner submits the nomination, community development must mail written notice at least 15 days before the planning commission hearing, warning the owner that designation bars removal without a woodland use permit; if the owner objects, the planning commission must refuse the designation. Approved trees go on a historic and specimen tree map kept by community development, and City Code § 37-26(a)(2) then requires a woodland use permit, issued through the planning commission, before the tree can be removed, damaged or destroyed. The commission may condition approval on inch-for-inch replacement of the removed tree.