Clearwater, FL Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Sec. 30.141-30.145, Ch. 30 Art. IV
- Compliance window
- 15 days after notice served
- Appeal body
- City commission
- Non-compliance remedy
- City trims/removes, bills owner
- Enforcing official
- City manager
Summary
Clearwater treats a tree, shrub, or object on a parkway or private property near a street intersection as an unlawful nuisance if it blocks a driver's sightline. The city manager can order the owner to trim or remove it within 15 days, and the city can do the work itself and bill the property if the owner ignores the notice.
Any person who plants, fixes or maintains any tree, shrubbery, or any other object upon any parkway or private property within the city adjacent to the intersection of any streets in the city, which obstructs the driving vision of the operator of any vehicle properly upon a street approaching such intersection, is declared to be guilty of committing an unlawful act and a nuisance.
Full Breakdown
Clearwater Code of Ordinances Sec. 141 declares it a nuisance and an unlawful act for anyone to plant, fix, or maintain a tree, shrubbery, or other object on a parkway or on private property adjacent to a street intersection if it obstructs the driving vision of a vehicle operator approaching that intersection. Enforcement runs through the city manager under Sec. 142: after investigating a sightline complaint, the manager must serve the property owner or occupant with written notice describing the violation and directing removal, or trimming and height/width reduction, of the offending tree, shrub, or object.
The notice can be served in person or, if that fails, by posting a copy at a conspicuous spot on the abutting parkway or the private property itself. The owner gets 15 days from service to comply. Sec. 143 gives the owner a right of appeal to the city commission within the time stated in the notice, and compliance is suspended while that appeal is pending. If the owner neither complies within the 15-day window nor wins an appeal, Sec. 144 authorizes the city manager to have the tree or shrubbery trimmed or removed by city crews or contractors to eliminate the traffic hazard, with the cost charged back to the real property owner.
Sec. 145 clarifies the article does not stop an owner from erecting or maintaining buildings or structures otherwise permitted by city ordinance. This provision sits in Chapter 30, Article IV (Traffic and Motor Vehicles), Obstruction of Driver's Vision, and is cross-referenced to the excessive-growth/weeds nuisance provision at Sec. 34; the city's separate tree-canopy protection chapter (Chapter 52) is reserved and its substance now sits in the Community Development Code rather than this title.
Violations & Fines
A property owner or occupant who ignores a compliance notice past the 15-day deadline, and does not have a pending appeal to the city commission, faces city-ordered trimming or removal performed at the owner's expense; the city bills the real property owner directly for that work rather than issuing a fine. Because the underlying conduct is also declared an unlawful act and a nuisance under Sec. 30.141, it can independently support enforcement as a code violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What triggers a trim notice under Clearwater's vision-obstruction rule?
How long does a Clearwater property owner have to comply?
Can a Clearwater property owner appeal a trim-or-remove notice?
What happens if the owner never trims the tree?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Clearwater
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Clearwater to another location·View the Florida landscaping rules overview
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