Landscaping in the Reserve

This page covers topic relating to landscaping and will be updated from time to time with new topics

Trees in the Reserve

The city of Dublin Ohio has established codes related to trees in Dublin called the Tree Preservation Code § 153.140. This code provides rules around planting requirements for homeowners and issues around maintaining trees.

For the Reserve Homeowners, this mainly impacts us in two ways: 

• The trees located in the right of way called “Street Trees” See Code § 153.134
• Trees located in Protected Zones. Another name for protected zones are No-Disturb Zone or No-Build Zone. These can be found on your property plat if they exist.

Street Trees 

The city of Dublin requires each subdivision developer to plant “Street Trees” along each street within the public right-of-way. These trees must be picked from an established list and only one type of tree per street. In the Reserve, we have three types of trees and they are: 

These Street Trees are the responsibility of the City of Dublin, nobody except the City of Dublin can hereafter plant, remove, prune, or treat with growth-inhibiting measures, any tree or shrub upon any public way, street, alley, park, or other property owned by the city, without obtaining a public tree permit from the city. The permit form can be found at: 

https://dublinohiousa.gov/planning-forms/tree-removal-permit.pdf

In other words, if you have an issue with one of these trees along the street in front of your house, contact the city. The city routinely comes through the Reserve every few years to trim branches of the street trees or earlier upon request.

Protected, No-Disturb, No-Build Zones

These zones located throughout Dublin and in the Reserve come with rules relating to trees. These zones were established when the subdivision was planned and can be found on your property plat.

In the Reserve, for example, most of the homes on the outside of the subdivision that share a border with Muirfield, have a 15-foot No-Build Zone on their property plat.

Any tree in these zones that has a diameter of six inches or larger at DBH is considered a protected tree. DBH is Diameter at Breast Height or 4.5 feet from the ground.

A tree removal permit is REQUIRED before removing any Protected trees from your property. Permits are not hard to get If the tree is dead or dying; is affected with any injurious disease, fungus, insect, or other pests; or constitutes a hazard to persons or property. If in doubt, contact the city.

For more information:

City of Dublin Tree Preservation Site

Tree Preservation Code

Fences

Fences are allowed in the Reserve but must get approval from the Landscape committee before they are installed. Primary concerns are location and placement, the ability to see through the fence, size, and color. All fences also require a Certificate of Zoning Plan Approval application with the City of Dublin prior to installation. Pool-related fences or “Pool Barriers” are also governed by the City of Dublin and have additional concerns that have to be met and require a permit. 

Regarding the split-rail fence surroundings the Reserve, this fence belongs to Muirfield. This fence can not be modified or repaired without permission from Muirfield.  You also can’t attach things to the fence such as chicken wire as this fence is not on your property.