La Habra, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 12.20.020, in Chapter 12.20, Parkway Trees and Shrubs, requires written permission from the parkway maintenance division supervisor before any person plants, cuts down, trims, prunes, removes or otherwise interferes with the natural growth of a tree planted along a city street or on other city property. The supervisor can require all or part of the approved work to be performed under the supervision of city parkway maintenance personnel, so a resident cannot simply hire a private tree company to take down a street tree without city sign-off on both the request and, potentially, the execution.

Section 12.20.050 separately requires that anyone performing maintenance on a tree along a city street or on other city property, aside from watering and fertilizing, be determined qualified and have their work approved by the division supervisor. Section 12.20.070 bars anyone from defacing, mutilating, or attaching ropes, wire, signs, posters or handbills to a tree growing along a street or in a public place, and bars letting brine, oil, dye, salt or other harmful substances contact the tree or the soil around its base. Section 12.20.090 requires anyone erecting, altering, constructing or repairing a building near a street tree to place barriers around it to prevent injury during construction.

Section 12.20.100 treats an overgrown tree, shrub or groundcover that blocks a street, sidewalk, alley or sightline as a public nuisance the parkway maintenance division foreman can order abated after ten days' notice, billing the property owner for the cost. The chapter dates to Ordinance No. 1003, 1977.