Flagstaff, AZ Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

City Code Section 8-04-001-0001 places the trimming duty directly on the property owner: any owner of real property must trim all trees on property they own or occupy that overhang a public thoroughfare, so that branches will not interfere with pedestrians or public travel. Section 8-04-001-0002 imposes a parallel duty on hedges and shrubbery adjacent to public sidewalks, requiring owners or occupants to maintain them so no part extends over any portion of a public sidewalk in the City. Section 8-04-001-0003 separately makes it unlawful for anyone who is not the owner, or who lacks lawful authority, to willfully injure, deface, disfigure or destroy any tree or shrub, or to injure, destroy, cut or pick any flower or plant, whether on private ground or on any public place or thoroughfare.

Section 8-04-001-0004 gives the City Council full and complete control over all trees standing outside the property lines of privately owned real property, meaning trees in the public right-of-way itself fall under Council authority rather than an abutting owner's discretion. Because Chapter 8-04 sets out these duties without naming its own fine schedule, enforcement runs through the Chapter 1-04 general penalty that applies to every section of the City Code that does not specify its own punishment.