Alpharetta, GA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Sec. 2.3.7 of the Unified Development Code's Downtown Overlay defines the planter as the zone adjacent to the curb reserved for street trees and furniture such as light poles and litter receptacles, and Subsection B sets the planting standard developers must follow along Downtown Alpharetta streets. Where no overhead utility lines run above the sidewalk, shade trees must be planted at a maximum of 40 feet on center within the planter, and each newly planted tree must measure at least 3½ inches in caliper and be limbed up to a minimum height of 7 feet before it counts toward compliance.

Where overhead utilities are present, the code substitutes a smaller understory tree planted at a tighter maximum spacing of 25 feet on center, and that substitution requires sign-off from both the overhead utility provider and the City Arborist before it can be approved. Every required street tree, of either type, must sit in a pervious planting area measuring at least 6 feet by 10 feet, and decorative tree grates over that area are barred outright unless the City Arborist affirmatively determines a grate will not harm the tree's health.

These planter standards sit inside the Downtown Streetscape Table framework at Sec. 2.3.4, which also fixes sidewalk and planter widths by street type, so a downtown frontage improvement or new development plan has to coordinate its tree spacing with the same table's sidewalk and multi-use trail requirements before the City Transportation Engineer signs off on the streetscape design.