Ascension Parish, LA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Ascension Parish's TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) district design requirements set a specific street-tree standard at UDC Section 17-7054(C), Landscaping and Screening Standards, Trees Along Thoroughfares. A minimum of one deciduous canopy tree is required per 40 feet of frontage, or fraction thereof, though the trees can be clustered rather than evenly spaced. Placement is preferred between the sidewalk and curb, within a boulevard's landscaped area, or in tree wells set in pavement or concrete; if right-of-way placement conflicts with utility lines, the tree may instead go in the front yard setback next to the sidewalk.

The trees must be native shade species that reach a minimum 40-foot height at maturity, planted along every street at a maximum average spacing of 30 feet on center, with a minimum caliper of two and one-half inches at the time of planting. This is a TND-specific rule: the parish's separate TND open-space accounting section, UDC Section 17-7045(B)(2), repeats the same one-tree-per-40-feet figure but caps street trees within the street right-of-way at no more than 25 percent of a development's required common open space credit.

The standard applies only to land zoned for a Traditional Neighborhood Development under Chapter 17-7000; it is not a general planting mandate for parish roads outside a TND, which are governed instead by the parish's standard subdivision regulations.