The Town shall have the right to plant street trees and park trees as may be necessary to ensure public safety or to preserve or enhance the symmetry and beauty of public streets and parks. This section shall not prohibit the planting of street trees by adjacent property owners, provided that the selection and location of said trees is in accordance with this section.
The Tree Board, with input from the Highway Superintendent and Town Forester, shall determine the official street tree species list for the Town of Amherst, New York, and the same shall be filed with the Town Clerk on an annual basis. No species other than those included in this list may be planted as street trees without written permission from the Town Forester.
A. 
The distance trees may be planted from curbs or curblines and sidewalks will be in accordance with the three species size classes listed in the official street tree species list, and no trees may be planted closer to any curb or sidewalk than the following:
(1) 
Small trees: two feet.
(2) 
Medium trees: three feet.
(3) 
Large trees: four feet.
(4) 
No trees are to be planted in a tree lawn of less than four feet.
B. 
Street corners.
(1) 
Clear vision shall be maintained on corner lots as required under Chapter 203-2-4, Zoning.
(2) 
No tree shall be planted in a street right-of-way within 100 feet of the front face of a stop sign.
C. 
No street tree shall be planted closer than 10 feet to any fire hydrant.
All deciduous trees planted shall have a minimum caliper of 1 3/4 inches, measured six inches above the ground. All evergreen trees shall have a minimum height of five feet above the ground.
A. 
Each building permit for a building having frontage on a Town highway, street or lane or having a side or rear lot line on a Town highway, street or lane shall be subject to the requirement of planting trees. The number of trees to be planted shall be determined as detailed in the annual Community Tree Management Plan.
B. 
At the time of filing the building permit, the Town Clerk shall collect the cost of planting the required trees, which cost shall be determined from time to time by Town Board resolution. The total fee collected shall be calculated on the basis of a fee for each multiple of 40 feet of street frontage abutting on front, side and rear property lines.
A. 
The Town Clerk shall refund to the applicant or owner of the premises the tree fee collected upon certification by the Highway Superintendent within one year following payment of the fee that suitable trees have been planted by the applicant or the owner of the premises or that trees already exist on the premises which are in compliance with this article.
B. 
The Town Clerk shall refund the tree fee if it is determined by the Town Forrester that the site of the tree planting is not in an ideal location.
The Town Division of Forestry shall include in the Community Tree Management Plan provisions for the maximum reforestation of the Town of Amherst, New York, to include the planting of tree species that are unique, hard to grow and/or slow to mature, such as oak trees.