Burlington, NC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 38-23 gives the City of Burlington the right to plant, prune, maintain and remove trees, plants and shrubs within the right-of-way lines of every street, alley, avenue, lane, square and public ground, whenever necessary for public safety or to preserve the symmetry and beauty of those public grounds. That authority does not shut adjacent property owners out of planting their own street trees, but the section conditions it: the selection and location of any tree an owner wants to add must follow the planting and spacing guidelines the Tree Advisory Committee develops, and the owner must get the committee's approval before any right-of-way planting goes in.

The Tree Advisory Committee itself operates as a subcommittee of the Community Appearance Advisory Commission under section 38-22(c), and one of the article's stated purposes is to encourage protecting trees and using them to create a more natural, amenable environment, while section 38-22(b) cautions that the article is not meant to punish anyone who exercises real care in protecting trees on public or private land. Definitions in section 38-21 pin down the geography: right-of-way means property within and adjoining the city's or state's streets, roads and highways, and street trees means the trees, shrubs and bushes growing on land within those rights-of-way along any street, avenue or way in the city.