La Grange, MO Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 215.191, La Grange's sidewalk and street-obstruction ordinance, devotes its final subsection to street trees. Subsection E states that shade trees may be planted adjacent to the property and within the street lines under the direction of the Street Committee, but in no case shall shade trees be planted more than twelve feet from the street property line on the street. The same section regulates everything else that might crowd a City right-of-way: porches, galleries and awnings may not come within seven feet of the sidewalk under Subsection A, cellar doors may not project more than three feet under Subsection B, and cellar grates or window curbing may not extend more than two feet onto the sidewalk or street under Subsection C.

Reading the tree rule alongside those neighbors makes its purpose plain: the Council wrote 215.191 to keep the parkway and sidewalk corridor clear, and shade trees get the same twelve-foot ceiling as any other private encroachment. The ordinance traces to Ord. No. 21, adopted June 15, 1906, and was carried forward as Section 570.010 in the 2010 recodification before receiving its current numbering. No building permit process or tree-species list appears anywhere in this section; the only stated conditions are the Street Committee's direction and the twelve-foot cap. Because Section 215.191 sets no penalty of its own, a violation falls back to Article III's general penalty, Section 100.220.