West Bloomfield, MI Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

The requirement sits in Article IV, Improvements, of the township's subdivision ordinance, Chapter 21. Under Sec. 21-67(a), existing trees near street rights-of-way must be preserved by the proprietor and builder, and at least three trees are required on each platted lot within 20 feet of the curb or pavement edge, planted at occupancy or no later than six months afterward. Deciduous trees must have at least a three-inch caliper measured one foot above grade, while coniferous trees must be at least six feet tall. Eight species are barred from counting toward the requirement: Box Elder, Elm, Poplar, Willow, nut-bearing Horse Chestnut, Tree of Heaven, Catalpa, and Russian Olive.

Subsection (b) lets a proprietor shift one of the three required trees into a common open space instead, but only if a master landscape plan for that open space is submitted and approved by the planning commission. The provision dates to the original 1983 subdivision ordinance (Ord. No. 115, Sec. 502(4)) and was amended in 1992 by Ord. No. C-365. Because Chapter 21 sets no penalty of its own for a builder who skips the planting, enforcement falls back on the township's general penalty section, Sec.

1-10: an unspecified violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine, or the township can instead pursue it as a municipal civil infraction carrying a $150 fine for a first offense and $300 for a repeat, plus costs, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense. Planning and Development reviews compliance during final plat approval before the township board will accept the subdivision's improvements.