Greenwood, IN Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 6-345(a) of the Greenwood General Ordinances makes it unlawful to plant, remove, or trim any tree or bush along a street or in a parkway or other public place without a permit. The only exception written into the section is for the owner of the dominant real estate, who may plant, remove, or trim without a permit, but even that owner loses the exemption once the work interferes with the public use of the right-of-way. Every tree or shrub planted under the section must be placed subject to the direction and approval of the Board of Public Works and Safety, the same body that oversees Greenwood's streets and rights-of-way citywide.

Subsection (b) adds a second, separate prohibition: no one may attach a sign, advertisement, or notice to any tree, pole, or shrub standing in a street or public place, aimed at keeping parkway trees from becoming ad space. The section traces to Code 1968 § 3.10 and carried forward as 1983 Greenwood Municipal Code § 15-8, so the permit requirement predates the current codification by decades. Because Section 6-345 sets no dollar penalty of its own, a violation defaults to the City's general-penalty section, Greenwood General Ordinances § 1-13, which fines unpermitted conduct up to $2,500 and treats each day a violation continues as a separate offense.

A related duty sits next door at Section 6-346, which requires the owner of an overhanging tree to trim it once it blocks a sidewalk or street, so a resident dealing with a parkway tree may need to consult both sections depending on whether the work is planting or removal versus trimming for clearance.