Youngstown, OH Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Youngstown Codified Ordinances Section 921.04 governs where street trees go: any tree planted in a City street must be set at a point equidistant from the curb line and the sidewalk line next to the curb, so it sits centered in the parkway strip rather than crowding either the roadway or the walk. The section singles out one species for an outright ban: no poplar tree may be planted in a City street, reflecting the species' history of buckling sidewalks and curbs with aggressive roots.

The same section also forbids planting any tree that would obstruct visibility at an intersection or block a traffic control device, tying the planting rule directly to traffic safety rather than aesthetics alone. Section 921.05 adds a uniformity requirement for paved streets: when abutting owners or their agents plant trees along a paved street, the trees must go on a line midway between the curbstone and the sidewalk so that the plantings form a straight line down each side of the street. Read together, the two sections give Youngstown residents and contractors a fixed planting envelope: centered in the parkway, aligned with neighboring trees, clear of intersection sightlines and traffic signals, and never a poplar.

Chapter 921's general penalty section, 921.99, backs both rules with the same criminal penalty that applies to the chapter's tree-trimming and nuisance-removal provisions, so a planting that violates the equidistant, alignment, species or visibility rules is enforceable the same way as a trimming violation.