Charleston, SC Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

The rule sits in Chapter 22's Street Tree Program, Division 4, which governs the city's entire relationship with trees planted along Charleston streets. Before any shade or ornamental tree or shrub goes into a right-of-way or easement, § 22-51 requires the director of the department of parks to approve species, cultivar, spacing, and distance from pavement under § 22-52's street tree manual standards, at the planting party's expense. Once a tree is established, § 22-53 locks down what anyone else can do to it: no cutting, pruning, breaking, climbing, attaching anything, using it as anchorage, injuring, or removing it without the director's written permission.

The department can still forgive an unpermitted removal after the fact, but only alongside mitigation planting set by the city's tree manual, so a homeowner or contractor who tops or removes a boulevard tree without asking still owes replacement trees. Two related sections widen the protection: § 22-54 requires the same written permission before anyone removes or damages a guard or device protecting a tree, and § 22-56 makes builders erect protective guards around nearby right-of-way trees during construction, as the parks director directs. Utility work gets a narrow, time-boxed exception; under § 22-57, a company with wires running through the right-of-way must pull the wire or de-energize it within twenty-four hours of written notice from the parks director when pruning requires it.

The director also holds independent authority under § 22-58 to remove any right-of-way tree that has become dangerous, decayed, or otherwise objectionable, without needing the property owner's request. Finally, § 22-59 makes it an offense to prevent, delay, or interfere with parks department staff while they plant, prune, spray, or remove a tree, shrub, or plant in the right-of-way.