Jacksonville, NC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Sec. 15-77(a) covers 'public trees,' defined by Sec. 15-75 to include 'street trees': trees, shrubs and bushes within the right-of-way on either side of any street, avenue or way. The city may plant, prune, maintain and remove trees and shrubs within street, alley, avenue, lane, square and public-ground lines whenever necessary for public safety or to preserve the symmetry and beauty of public grounds. The city tree board can recommend to the city manager that a publicly owned tree be removed if it's unsafe or injurious to sewers, power lines, gas lines, water lines or other public improvements, or infested with a harmful fungus, insect or pest.

None of that displaces a property owner's own planting: Sec. 15-77(a) expressly does not prohibit the planting of street trees by adjacent property owners, so long as the tree selection and its location follow the guidelines the parks and streets divisions develop each year under the citywide tree care plan required by Sec. 15-76 and adopted by city council. Once a tree is in the ground in the right-of-way, though, pruning, treating or removing it later requires a permit from the city manager under Sec. 15-82, and interfering with city crews doing authorized planting or pruning work is itself a violation under Sec. 15-80.