Newark, NJ Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 27:1-4 of Newark's Revised General Ordinances requires anyone planting or setting out a shade tree, or causing another person to do so, in a public street or city park to first obtain a written permit from the Director of the Department of Public Works, with all planting and related work performed strictly according to the permit's terms. The Division of Parks, Grounds and Shade Trees, defined in § 27:1-1 as the unit within the Department of Public Works responsible for city parkways, administers this permitting.

Once a tree is planted, § 27:1-6 protects its root zone: an open area of at least six square feet of ground must be maintained around any shade tree up to three inches in trunk diameter at the base, increasing by one square foot for every additional two inches of diameter, unless the Director's permit specifies otherwise. Section 27:1-7 separately bars letting gas, brine water, oil, dye or other substances toxic to tree life reach the soil around a planted tree's roots. Because Chapter 27:1 defines PLANT broadly to include hedges, brush, shrubs, shrubbery and flowers as well as trees, the planting permit requirement extends beyond street trees to other plantings placed in the public right-of-way or city parks.

Violations of § 27:1-4, like other Chapter 27:1 offenses, are punished under the chapter's catch-all penalty section, § 27:1-15: a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to 90 days, or both, with every day a violation continues charged as a new offense.