Barrow County, GA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 89-1518 sets the county's streetscape design requirements for the D211 Overlay, covering both the Highway 211 corridor (Type A Road) and every other new street inside the district (Type B Corridors). The Streetscape Design Table pairs a six-foot-minimum planting strip with street trees spaced 40 feet on center and streetlights spaced 50 feet on center for both road types. Subsection (g) spells out the planting-strip standards in more detail: street trees are required in the planting zone and must be planted no farther than 40 feet on center, spaced evenly with the required streetlights, and each tree needs a minimum 200 square feet of root growth area and at least three feet of soil depth, with durable root guards installed at planting and a minimum three-and-a-half-foot setback from the back of curb to protect utility lines.

Trees must be selected from an approved list of overstory species, including Bald Cypress, Shumard Oak and Willow Oak, or an approved understory species when overhead utilities require a smaller tree, and must be at least three-inch caliper at planting. Property owners are responsible for replacing any required tree that dies or fails to thrive. A separate but similar rule applies to a much wider stretch of unincorporated Barrow County: Barrow County Code § 89-1605(c), part of the Highway Corridor Overlay covering SR 124, SR 11, Highway 211, Highway 53, Highway 81 and Highway 316/US 29, also requires canopy street trees in the landscaped strip along those corridors, drawn from its own large- and small-tree species lists. Outside the D211 and Highway Corridor Overlay boundaries, this record does not address whether a parkway planting requirement exists.