Portland, ME Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 13.6.2(B)(5) of the Land Use Code, effective July 1, 2026, sets Portland's street tree requirement inside Article 13's Site Plan Review Standards, under the article's environmental quality standards. Any development that triggers site plan review must include one street tree for every 25 to 35 linear feet of frontage along a city right-of-way or private roadway, sized and spaced under the Technical Manual's landscaping standards. The code also requires the applicant to build in measures that improve tree survival, such as raised planters, irrigation, or structural soils, when the City Arborist recommends them.

Where site constraints genuinely prevent planting the required trees within the public right-of-way, the applicant does not simply skip the requirement: the review authority may permit an alternative subject to the Technical Manual's landscaping standards, but only after the applicant demonstrates the constraint to the reviewing board.

The code also protects the mature street trees Portland already has. If a proposed development requires removing an existing street tree that the City Arborist has determined to be a heritage or feature mature tree, the applicant cannot simply replace it one-for-one. Section 13.6.2(B)(5)(c) instead requires a contribution to the city's Tree Fund at the rate set in the Technical Manual, calculated so the total replacement cost is significantly higher than planting a new street tree or contributing for one. That premium functions as a built-in disincentive against removing mature canopy for site convenience.

Because this standard sits inside Article 13 (Site Plan) rather than a stand-alone tree ordinance, it is reviewed and enforced through the site plan approval process itself, a project without an approved street-tree and landscaping plan does not receive site plan approval from the Planning Authority.