Cabarrus County, NC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

The Street Trees standard sits inside Chapter 15, Section 10, 'Sidewalks, street trees and street lights,' which governs the public improvements a developer must install before a new residential subdivision in unincorporated Cabarrus County can be approved and recorded. The rule sets a planting rate of one large canopy tree per 40 linear feet of street, with individual trees spaced a maximum of 50 feet apart along the residential streets in the plat. Each tree must measure at least 2 1/2 caliper inches at the time of planting, and the developer must plant at least two different tree species so the streetscape is not a monoculture.

The ordinance gives credit against the planting count for any existing tree with a trunk diameter of at least 6 inches DBH that the developer preserves inside the planting strip or a median rather than clearing it. The same Section 10 sets the companion sidewalk and streetlight standards: sidewalks are required on both sides of the street in most residential subdivisions (lots under one acre are exempt unless a school, park, or greenway lies within a half mile), and streetlights are mandatory once a development reaches a density of three or more units per acre.

Street tree installation is checked during the subdivision's construction-drawing and final-plat review under Chapter 15, Section 12, which bars construction of improvements until plans for the project, including its landscaping, have been approved by Planning and Development staff and, ultimately, before the final plat can be recorded with the Register of Deeds.