Boulder, CO Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 6-6-4, "Planting in Public Areas," governs who may add or remove vegetation on land the city controls. Subsection (a) prohibits planting in or removing from any city property a plant or tree without first getting written permission from the city manager. " Subsection (c) ties planting, maintaining, relocating, or removal of trees or plants in the right-of-way or easement to the City of Boulder Design and Construction Standards, the technical manual that sets species, spacing, and installation requirements. Subsection (d) gives property owners a limited right to plant street trees fronting their own property between the gutter line and the property line, so long as they use the species, locations, and methods set out in the Design and Construction Standards or as the city manager designates, but it expressly restates that planting within the tree lawn of a city street inside the right-of-way still requires the same written permission required by Subsection (a).

Related duties sit nearby: Section 8-2-25 requires an adjacent property owner to maintain required street trees on or near their property in the right-of-way, including irrigation and a mulched, sod-free base for trees six inches or less in diameter measured fifty-four inches above ground, and Section 6-6-7 requires mitigation, by replanting or payment, for any tree removed or destroyed from the right-of-way without an approved plan.