Blue Hill, NE Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 6-105 of the Blue Hill Municipal Code governs where street trees may be planted in the public right-of-way. A street tree may go in the tree lawn only where there is more than 6 feet between the edge of the sidewalk and the curb of the street, and even then it must sit no closer than 3 feet from a sidewalk, driveway or street. Corner visibility and fire access get their own numeric buffers: no street tree may be planted closer than 35 feet to any street corner, measured from the nearest intersection of curb lines, and none may be planted closer than 10 feet to any fireplug.

Overhead utility lines require an extra step: special permission from the city superintendent is required before planting a street tree within 10 feet of any point on the ground directly below an overhead utility wire. These placement standards work together with Section 6-104's branch-clearance duty (8 feet over walkways, 12 feet over streets) and Section 6-106, which reserves to the city the right to plant, prune, maintain and remove trees in the right-of-way as necessary for public safety, including removing a tree that is unsafe, diseased, or a hazard to power lines, while still letting the abutting owner perform normal tree care on street trees.