Residential Property Landscaping

A. Planting in City Right of Way (ROW)

1. The City encourages properties to add landscaping within the ROW where possible up to the back of curb, but there are several rules and requirements.
2. There must always be a minimum 5’ wide clear pedestrian access across the property.
3. Sight visibility triangles (SVT) must be clear. (see SVT )
4. No tree or large shrub planting within 50’ of a stop, yield or speed limit sign.
5. No large tree planting under power lines.
6. Plant locations must maintain setbacks from underground utilities. (see required utility setbacks(PDF, 224KB))
7. Planting in the ROW should be approved by the TDOT landscape architect and the owner must understand the “Standard Notes for Planting in the ROW”. (see standard notes(PDF, 38KB))
8. All water harvesting and curb cuts or curb core drills within the ROW must submit for a Right-of-Way permit(PDF, 289KB) prior to installation.
9. The property owner understands that the City or a utility company may need to remove the landscaping in order to repair facilities, and will not replace landscape or irrigation.

B. Tree / vegetation removal from the ROW

Whose tree is it anyway? In most cases the tree will belong to the adjacent property owner. If you have an alley in back of your property you are required to maintain to the center line of the alley.