Wayne County, IN Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Wayne County Code § 155.162, part of the subdivision control ordinance administered by the Plan Commission, puts street tree planting on the subdivider, not the county, whenever a new plat is developed in unincorporated Wayne County. The subdivider must select trees from a list the County Agricultural Agent recommends and space them at intervals of 40 to 60 feet on both sides of each street. That spacing rule is a hard number, not a guideline: the Commission reviews the planting plan and sets the exact position of every tree within the street right-of-way as part of plat approval under § 155.161 through § 155.164.

The same subchapter requires the subdivider to grade and seed or sod any unpaved right-of-way area (§ 155.163) and to pay for street identification signs at every intersection (§ 155.161), so tree placement is one piece of a broader off-street improvements package the Commission signs off on before a plat records. Because this sits in Chapter 155 SUBDIVISIONS rather than Chapter 156 ZONING, the duty attaches at the time a new subdivision is platted; it does not create an ongoing maintenance mandate for trees planted decades ago under earlier versions of the code.

Developers working outside a platted subdivision, or inside Richmond, Centerville, Cambridge City, Hagerstown or any other incorporated town, fall outside this county provision entirely and should check that municipality's own code instead.