Whitfield County, GA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Section 5A-4-2 of the Unified Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A), within its Urban PUD Design Standards in Article 5A, requires a public sidewalk along every public street inside a U-PUD development, built in two parts: an amenity zone next to the curb, at least three feet wide and five feet wide where feasible, and a continuous hardscape walk zone at least five feet wide with a cross-slope no steeper than two percent. Street trees have to go in the ground within that amenity zone, spaced no more than 30 feet apart from the next street tree, and every newly planted tree must be single-stemmed with a caliper of at least two inches measured 36 inches above the ground.

These standards apply to new house-scaled residential buildings with 80 feet or less of street frontage, or to any existing U-PUD property being redeveloped after 60 percent or more of its principal building is removed or destroyed, per Section 5A-2. A developer can seek an adjustment to the sidewalk requirement, including the street tree placement it carries, by documenting one of several listed site conditions, such as existing trees six inches or more in diameter within the proposed sidewalk zone or topographic conditions that would put the walk zone a foot or more above or below the curb; if a waiver is granted, sidewalks of equal or greater length must go in along the adjoining streets instead.