Bannock County, ID Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Bannock County Code Section 17.46.100(G) sets the street and pedestrian standards every Master Planned Community (MPC) in unincorporated Bannock County must follow. Subsection (G)(2) calls an eleven-foot street cross section 'a standard': a six-foot park strip paired with a five-foot sidewalk, though the county may approve alternate park strip and sidewalk widths depending on the proposed land use and the design effect the developer is after. All streets in an MPC must carry sidewalks and curbside streetscape except where topography makes that impractical, and portions of an MPC may skip sidewalks entirely if the developer instead provides a separated or integrated bicycle and pedestrian pathway system approved by county planning staff.

Subsection (G)(3) protects the street trees that sit in that park strip: where a developer paves part of the strip to fit benches, trash receptacles, or other street furniture, the paving must leave 'appropriately sized tree wells for street trees,' so hardscaping cannot crowd out the planting area. Section 17.46.110(B) reinforces the same design goal for multi-family projects, listing 'parkstrips with street trees' among the walkable elements an MPC should provide along streets and open space 'where possible.' Because these standards are written into Chapter 17.46, they bind only land the board of county commissioners has rezoned to the MPC district under Section 17.46.030; they are not a general street-tree requirement for every subdivision in unincorporated Bannock County.