Stafford Township, NJ Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 130-51B requires streetscape planting in conjunction with all development on every existing and proposed road where the development site has or creates frontage. The developer picks one of three concepts or proposes an alternative of more appropriate design. The formal tree-lined avenue is the standard for the majority of streets in Stafford Township. Under it, shade trees run along both sides of the street in the planting area between the curb and the sidewalk, spaced 30 feet to 50 feet apart: a thirty-to-forty-foot spacing for narrow-habit trees and a forty-to-fifty-foot spacing for spreading trees. Trees must be planted clear of utilities, roadways, sidewalks, street lights, sight distances and driveway aprons, and not closer than eight feet to fire hydrants. Minimum size is three inches to 3.5 inches caliper.

Replacement plants must conform to the type of existing tree in the area, and any deviation needs the permission of the Township Landscape Architect and/or Environmental Commission. In a newly planted area only one type of tree is allowed on a given street unless they specify otherwise. Trees inside a sight triangle must be large enough to be pruned to a seven-foot branching height, and the Township Engineer approves that planting.

The informal street tree concept, for meandering curvilinear roads, averages one tree for every 50 linear feet of roadway on each side, with sizes from two inches to six inches caliper. The village streetscape concept applies in areas the Stafford Township Historic Preservation Commission designates as villages, i.e., Manahawkin, or where the board of jurisdiction requires it. It calls for planting areas of at least 90 square feet and one tree of three inches to 3.5 inches caliper for every 40 feet of frontage. Removal of an existing street tree is a separate matter under Chapter 194, the Tree Ordinance.