Council Bluffs, IA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Council Bluffs Municipal Code Chapter 10.52 governs every tree, shrub and hedge planted in the city's public rights-of-way, the parkway strip between the street and the sidewalk. Under CBMC 10.52.090, no person may plant a tree, shrub or hedge in the right-of-way unless it measures at least one inch in diameter at one foot above ground and sits no closer than thirty inches to the edge of the street pavement. Planted material becomes city property once in the ground, subject to the chapter's maintenance rules.

CBMC 10.52.060 bars planting more than twenty listed species outright, including black locust, box elder, butternut, catalpa, cottonwood, elms other than hybrids, all evergreens, hickory, mulberry, Osage orange, paper birch, pin oak, poplars, Russian olive, silver maple, tree of heaven, walnut and willows, along with any standard fruiting tree and anything not on the master street tree plan. The director of Parks, Recreation and Public Property keeps that plan under CBMC 10.52.070, listing approved genus, species and variety and setting planting guidelines, and it is available for public inspection at the director's office.

Removing an existing parkway tree is a separate, permitted act under CBMC 10.52.010 through 10.52.050: the applicant needs a permit, a cash bond or deposit sized to the restoration cost, and proof of insurance, and must clear the felled tree and debris within forty-eight hours. A property owner who plants prohibited species or violates the setback can be ordered to remove the tree under the abatement process in CBMC 10.52.100, with an appeal to the city manager within ten days and up to one hundred eighty days to remove an illegally planted tree.