Ramapo, NY Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Ramapo's Shade Tree Ordinance, adopted in 1965 and rewritten in full in 2012, attaches street tree obligations to subdivision approval rather than to existing homeowners. Under § 258-3, any developer who receives final subdivision approval from the Planning Board must provide a five-foot-wide shade tree easement running along the street frontage of every lot, plus pay a fee set in the Town's Standard Schedule of Fees. The Director of Public Works then plants one tree for every 40 linear feet of that easement, choosing the size and species at his or her discretion under § 258-5A, and the easement itself expires two years after planting.

The Planning Board can waive the requirement under § 258-4 where the Director of Public Works finds that trees already growing along the frontage or on abutting property satisfy the ordinance's intent. A property owner also has an independent right to refuse the plantings outright: the refusal must be submitted in writing before planting begins and is kept permanently in the lot's building file. Refusing does not get the developer's fee back; it stays with the Town for general beautification and landscaping work.

Once trees go in, § 258-5B commits the Town to a one-year survival guarantee, replacing any tree that dies during that window, provided the replacement stays in the original planting location. If a tree survives the full year, § 258-5C transfers ownership to the lot owner, voids the easement, and shifts all future maintenance responsibility onto that owner. The article defines a 'shade tree' as any tree in a public place and covers only the Planning Board's subdivision jurisdiction, so it does not reach street trees inside Ramapo's incorporated villages, which run their own tree programs.