Durham, NC Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Section 8.3.5 of the Durham Unified Development Ordinance, administered by the Durham City-County Planning Department, rewards developers for keeping the biggest trees on a site. The size thresholds come from Sec. 17.3: any evergreen canopy tree 18 inches dbh or greater, any deciduous canopy tree 12 inches dbh or greater, and any understory tree, deciduous or evergreen, eight inches dbh or greater. A tree listed as a nonnative invasive plant by the U.S. Forest Service, or prohibited under the Landscape Manual for Durham, North Carolina, never qualifies.

The reward is arithmetic. A major specimen tree saved and protected under § 8.3.2 earns tree coverage credit at one and one-half times the size of its tree protection zone, which is the greater of a six-foot radius or a one-foot radius for every inch of dbh. A 12-inch deciduous canopy tree therefore carries a 12-foot radius zone, and a tree under six inches dbh still gets the six-foot minimum. The bonus counts toward the tree coverage standards in § 8.3.1, which apply in the Urban and Suburban Tiers and in the Compact Neighborhood Tier on sites not zoned Design District. Developments of less than two acres, or not using mass grading, are exempt from tree coverage requirements, as are additions to existing residential structures other than multiplexes and apartments.

The bonus has limits. Specimen trees in the floodway, non-encroachment area, floodway fringe, preserved wetlands and wetland buffers, steep slope areas, riparian buffers, Major Transportation Corridor buffers and Durham Natural Inventory sites get no additional credit, because that land is already protected. Flood areas count as protected land unless the site proposes to fill or develop them under § 8.4.4.

To claim the credit, the applicant files a major specimen tree survey showing each tree's specific location, species, size and tree protection zone. The same survey has to appear on the site, landscape, grading, utility, demolition and erosion control plans. Section 8.3.1D also tells designers to place any extra tree preservation areas outside the required locations so that they preserve major specimen trees and clusters of trees.