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Municipal Code Libraries (On-line)

Reference Type
Technology Transfer Publication

Searching for Tree Preservation/Protection, Parking Lot, Open Space, or Other “Green” Ordinances On-line

Codification: Ordinance codification is the process of collecting, organizing and publishing the legislation a municipality or county.

The following URL links provide access to municipal code in the United States and Canada (limited) and can be used to search for code examples when developing tree ordinances.

American Legal Publishing Corporation

"Extensive mid-western and southwestern state coverage (30 states). American Legal has codified “ordinances for over 1,000 municipalities and counties nationwide, ranging from villages with fewer than 500 people to large cities with populations well over 1,000,000.”

Code Publishing, Inc.

Primarily covers western (7 states; CA and WA are the most extensive) with limited eastern (2 states and only 2 cities).

General Code (E-Codes)

This library primarily covers the eastern US (19 states total) and is heavily concentrated in the mid-Atlantic region. Limited mid-western and western.

Municipal World (Canadian)

On-line code for 4 Canadian cities.

Municipal Code Corporation

Access to code in all states except Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Hawaii. Probably the most extensive library (e.g. Texas has code for 122 municipalities, Georgia >90 municipalities) in this list.

LexisNexis™ Municipal Codes (aka Book Publishing Company)

This library provides access to code in 33 states (distributed through out the US) with the most extensive list of municipalities in California.

ProCode

Very limited west coast (4 CA cities and 2 WA counties).

Seattle Public Library: Municipal Codes Online

This website is designed as a one-stop shop for locating municipal codes and related material. “This page provides Links to city and county codes available for unrestricted searching on the World Wide Web.” The links to municipal code on this page are direct to specific cities or counties (i.e. the city’s website not a codification library). The site also has links to the major codification services.

Sterling Codifiers, Inc.

Extensive western and upper mid-west state coverage (17 states).

In addition, Google searches for a specific city’s code are possible using search terms similar to Davis CA municipal code. It has not been determined whether the local city code libraries are more up-to-date than the large municipal code libraries that are maintained by codification services (e.g. MuniCode). This likely varies considerably from city to city.



A possible search scenario that would result in obtaining the most recent code example:

  1. Search through a codification library, or;
    1. Search through Google for cities/counties not listed in any of the codification libraries.
  2. Save/copy code, or record relevant chapter, title, sub-title designation, and date;
    1. Determine (from the code) the city department that has authority for code enforcement.
  3. Contact the city department directly via e-mail or telephone;
    1. Verify date of latest code section amendment(s).


Authors
D.R. Hartel
Date Published
2004
Publisher
USDA Forest Service
Publisher Location
Athens, GA
USDA FS
Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research & Information
Pages
1
Sub-Topics
Ordinances/Regulation
State(s)/Region(s)
National
Keywords
Codification, Ordinance library
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