James City County, VA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 24-102 targets a specific development type: multi-family developments, independent living facilities, and apartment developments with two or more dwelling units. Where those developments have rights-of-way rather than parking-lot layouts, deciduous shade trees must be planted as street trees along all of those rights-of-way. The trees can sit either directly within the right-of-way or within a five-foot landscape preservation easement running alongside it; if an easement is used, it must be dedicated, along with a maintenance easement, to the property owners' association or another entity approved by the county attorney.

The spacing standard requires at least one tree planted approximately every 40 feet along the easement or right-of-way, and every tree installed to meet the requirement must have a minimum caliper of one and one-half inches and otherwise conform to the plant material standards of § 24-94. Species choice is not open-ended: § 24-102(4) requires street trees to be deciduous shade trees that are native or otherwise commonly planted and adaptive to James City County's soils and climate; an applicant who wants an evergreen or ornamental substitute instead must file a landscape modification request under § 24-91 for the planning director to consider.

Where a multi-family or apartment site is designed around parking lots rather than rights-of-way, the parking lot landscaping standards of § 24-99 apply in place of the street tree rule. Planting timing is also fixed: § 24-102(5) requires installation between September and February while plant material is dormant, unless the planning director approves otherwise, though a temporary certificate of occupancy can still issue under § 24-8(b) before planting is finished.