Lee County, NC Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

UDO Article 7's street yard standard in § 7.7 applies to site plans for non-residential development and multi-family projects of three or more units, the same threshold that triggers the rest of the county's landscaping and buffering article. Every site has to provide a street yard along each public street right-of-way it abuts, measured horizontally from the right-of-way or property line, and the yard has to be at least eight feet wide. Planting density is set at one large tree or two small trees for every 50 linear feet of street yard frontage, measured parallel to the adjoining street.

Where the required trees would create a sight-distance conflict with a driveway or intersection, § 7.7.3.2 lets the applicant cluster the plantings elsewhere along the frontage to preserve visibility rather than eliminating them. No building or mechanical equipment can be placed within the street yard except utility equipment, though signs consistent with the county's sign regulations in Article 12 are allowed there. Single-family detached homes and individual duplexes on individual lots are exempt from the entire landscaping article, including the street yard requirement, and public streets created as part of a subdivision do not have to install street trees under § 7.7 either.

Community Development reviews street yard compliance as part of landscape plan approval, and failing to maintain the required trees is a zoning violation under § 7.3.4.