Kauai County, HI Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

The street-tree direction sits inside a longer list titled 'Enhance the Streetscape to Encourage Pedestrian Activity and Biking,' the same subsection that calls for ADA-accessible sidewalks, improved crosswalks, and pedestrian amenities such as benches, bicycle racks and lighting throughout the Civic Center neighborhood. Because § 10-5A.10 states it applies only within SPA-G, the boundary drawn around the Līhu'e Civic Center and community-facilities area, the guideline does not reach street trees anywhere else on Kaua'i; the county's other downtown overlays (SPA-D, E and F) instead rely on a separate curb-cut rule that keeps parking entrances from interrupting an existing street tree pattern rather than setting a planting theme of their own.

The specific planting theme itself is not spelled out inside the Kaua'i County Code text; Sections 4.2.6 and 4.6.5 of the Līhu'e Town Core Urban Design Plan of 2009, the planning document the Article incorporates, hold the illustrated tree spacing and species guidance the Code cross-references. Because § 10-5A.4(b) exempts routine maintenance that does not require a zoning permit, the tree-planting direction is triggered when a project inside SPA-G applies for a zoning permit for new development, not retroactively against existing street trees or landscaping already in place.

The Planning Department reviews the plan submittal against the Article's design standards, of which the street-tree direction is one line among the streetscape list, at that permit stage.