Chapel Hill, NC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 17-98 of the public street tree code puts every existing and future planting of trees and shrubs on a public right-of-way under the authority and direction of the town manager or a designated representative, and Section 17-97 makes the town manager responsible for enforcing the whole article. Along public streets in the town center districts, or any public street or highway shown on the Town's thoroughfare plan, a resident may plant trees only if the planting follows a Council-approved public street tree plan and the town manager issues a permit; the Code specifies there is no charge for that permit.

On any other public street, an abutting property owner may choose the variety and location of trees or shrubs to plant in the right-of-way without that plan-and-permit step, but the planting cannot go in, or interfere with, the space reserved for sidewalks, which the Code describes as normally an eight-foot-wide strip behind the curb or at the street edge, and it cannot sit close enough to an intersection to block sight distance. Section 17-98(c) adds that every planting on public property is subject to general public health, safety and convenience considerations, must use varieties suited to the local climate, and is meant to preserve and enhance the public landscape.

Section 17-99 separately bans planting fruit trees, other than ornamental varieties, or any tree whose root system, wood brittleness or disease susceptibility makes it undesirable, anywhere in a public right-of-way. The Town provides maintenance for trees in the town center districts and along thoroughfares under Section 17-100, but is not responsible for maintaining shrubs unless the Town planted them itself.