Daly City, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Daly City Municipal Code Chapter 12.40 (Urban Forestry, Ord. 1236 (1996), amended by Ord. No. 1387 (2015)) governs the city's roughly 10,000 public trees. Section 12.40.110 prohibits any person from spraying, root-pruning, fertilizing, staking, planting, transplanting, grading, or trenching within the foliage drip line, or removing any public right-of-way or street tree without a Public Works permit; only weed and trash removal at the base of the tree is allowed, and that is the abutting owner's responsibility. Section 12.40.160 makes it unlawful to top or stub-cut street trees, and requires utility line clearing by the drop-crotch pruning method. With Public Works Director approval, abutting owners may hire a certified arborist or tree company at their own expense to trim city trees; lowering of tree height is approved only if the tree's health and vigor are not threatened. Private trees remain the owner's responsibility: section 12.40.040 requires owners to keep trees and shrubs on their property from becoming a hazard or an impediment to vision or travel on any street, sidewalk, or public place.