Clarkstown, NY Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 250-6 addresses "traffic hazards at street corners," finding that obstructions like trees, hedges, walls, fences and embankments at intersections create sight-distance hazards. Subsection B(2) is the tree-clearance rule: "No limbs or foliage of any tree shall be permitted to grow closer to the ground than eight feet where such limbs or foliage overhang or are over or upon land located within the triangular areas of the sketches shown at the end hereof," referring to the corner sight-triangle diagrams attached to Chapter 250. The companion rule in B(1) caps other obstructions, shrubbery, hedges, walls, fences (unless no more than 5% solid), signs, mailboxes, pillars and embankments, at three feet above the street centerline within the same triangle, and B(3) bars any tree trunk in the triangle that is thick enough to block a stopped driver's view down the side road.

Enforcement starts with a written notice to the property owner from the Superintendent of Highways or the Town Code Enforcement Officer specifying the violation and a compliance deadline: 15 days for shrubbery, hedges or tree limbs and foliage, 30 days for tree trunks, walls or fences, and 45 days for an embankment (§ 250-6C). If the property owner will not grant entry to remove an embankment, the Town may condemn or otherwise obtain an easement to do the work itself. A property owner who ignores the notice past the deadline faces a summons from the Police Department or Code Enforcement Officer.