city of greenville
Landscaping and Tree Protection
As of January 24, 2011, Greenville City Council revised the City’s Land
Management Ordinance as it specifically relates to
Section 19-6.2 Landscaping, buffering, and screening. The changes are the
result of the City Council’s adoption in June 2009 of the Comprehensive Plan
that recommended promoting the protection and preservation of natural resources
via state-of-the-art techniques and regulations. City Council recognized the
need to reconcile the obligation of new landscaping, buffering, and screening
regulations with the improvement to the quality of life for all Greenville
citizens.
The changes clarify the applicability of landscape requirements while expanding
the minimum standards associated with development and landscaping. Over the past
2 years, Staff has collaborated with multiple local landscape architect's to
analyze and compare our landscape code with comparable regional communities as
well as national standards. The general findings suggested that our ordinance
was not user-friendly and lacked specific standards for the preservation,
placement, quantity, and quality of new and existing plant material. Changes
have also been made to the Administrative
Manual, Appendix E, regarding Tree Survey requirements, Tree Credit Units,
Tree Protection, and Acceptable and Prohibited Trees.
The proposed ordinance changes are designed to provide the public with a greater
understanding of the expectations associated with the landscaping of
developments. Eighty-two percent (82%) of surveyed participants from the
Greenville Comprehensive Plan supported requiring "more landscaping in new
commercial developments." The proposed revisions address the Comprehensive
Plan’s Implementation Strategy of updating the "landscape requirements to
increase tree canopy, restore and protect riparian buffers, replace top soil for
new developments, increase landscaping in parking lots, replace street trees,
and strengthen tree ordinance."
In an effort to improve the availability of this new information, the following
documents are provided to the development community. Whenever applicable, all
Site Grading Permits are required to include the following tables, details, and
specifications. This information should be included and formatted into the
standard drawing set of plans that are submitted to the City.
The "Plan Review Checklist" is being provided as a reference guide and is not
required to be submitted to the City. The "Checklist" is for internal use during
plan review and should be used by the development community as a pre-submittal
reference.
Regarding the removal of existing trees on either private or public property. If
the property is zoned anything other than single-family residential, then our
Heritage and Historic Tree Preservation requirements apply to only those trees
that are within a required setback. Before removing any existing tree, review
Section 19-6.3.2(C) of the
Land Management Ordinance. The Tree Removal Form is available for download
below.
Tree Foundation
The City’s Tree Foundation program offers the general public the opportunity to pay for the planting of new trees in our community. Possible locations may include within a park, public open space, along a greenway, or adjacent to a street. If you are a resident, business owner, or property owner interested in trees being planted along your street, the planting must occur within an existing space on public property.
More Information on the Tree Foundation
Tree Pruning Guidelines
Excessive pruning, topping, “crape murder” are unacceptable practices and will result in the property being in violation
of the City’s Code of Ordinances. Such a violation will result in the property being non-compliant and the property
owner will be required to plant new trees and shrubs in accordance with the current standards of the City’s ordinance.
Please review the
Tree Pruning Guidelines prior to pruning trees or contracting tree pruning services.