Burbank requires a written city permit to trim, prune, or otherwise maintain any tree in the public right-of-way or parkway, and unauthorized pruning of a public tree is unlawful (BMC 7-4-104; 7-4-113).
Under BMC 7-4-104, the City maintains street trees, but it is unlawful for any person to 'alter, or otherwise perform maintenance, on a tree within a public area and/or public right-of-way without a written permit'; root pruning of public-right-of-way trees by anyone other than authorized city personnel is also prohibited. 'Maintenance' is defined broadly to include pruning, trimming, topping, and root pruning (BMC 7-4-101). BMC 7-4-113 makes it unlawful to 'destroy, injure, or deface' any public tree, expressly including 'unauthorized pruning/trimming, cutting, topping, or shaping the branches of a public tree.' For private trees that overhang the street, BMC 7-4-110(A) authorizes the city to cut down dead or dangerous limbs and assess the cost to the owner, and BMC 7-4-110(C) requires branches near intersections to be trimmed so they do not hang lower than 14 feet above the curb. Abutting owners are responsible for watering/fertilizing street trees and maintaining other parkway vegetation (BMC 7-4-104(B)).
A violation of BMC 7-4-104 is a misdemeanor under BMC 1-1-105 and may result in permit revocation; destroying or injuring a public tree under 7-4-113 also requires reimbursement of the tree's appraised value (Trunk Formula) per BMC 7-4-105.
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