Dorchester County, SC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

4 of the county's Zoning and Land Development Standards Ordinance (Ord. No. 04-13) sets the minimum site design standards for cluster subdivisions, developments of at least ten gross calculated developable acres that concentrate homes to preserve common open space. Subsection (C) requires an "enhanced road section" on every street inside a cluster subdivision: a standard right-of-way 56 feet wide, with a 5-foot sidewalk on both sides, an 8-foot lawn verge on both sides measured from the back of the curb to the edge of the sidewalk, a minimum 11-foot travel lane, and 2 feet of lawn between the outer sidewalk edge and the right-of-way line reserved for utilities.

Within that lawn verge, the ordinance requires canopy street trees to be planted every 50 feet on average, in the center of the verge, running the length of the street. The County Engineer can require root barriers around those trees where they threaten to heave the sidewalk, damage curb and gutter, or intrude into underdrains, and the Zoning Administrator can approve understory trees in place of canopy trees for particular portions of a neighborhood on a case-by-case basis if the site's design calls for it.

The Zoning Administrator also has limited authority under subsection (C) to approve alterations to these minimum standards where natural features, an entry road, or a connector road between two sections of the same neighborhood justifies a different approach, as long as the underlying intent, walkable, tree-lined streets, is still achieved. Because this standard sits inside the cluster subdivision article, it applies to developments built under that specific zoning tool rather than to every residential street or existing right-of-way countywide.