Freehold Township, NJ Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 336-2 of the Freehold Township Code places the trimming duty on the owner of real estate in front of which a Shade Tree Commission-planted tree stands, requiring branches overhanging streets and highways be cut back so streetlight illumination is not blocked and so there is a clear height of 15 feet above the street surface and 10 feet above any sidewalk. This sits within Chapter 336, Article I, Shade Tree Planting and Care, first adopted in 1962 and amended through Ord. No. O-10-10 in 2010.

If an owner fails or refuses to trim after written notice from the Commission, § 336-2 authorizes the Commission to perform the trimming itself; the cost is then certified to the Collector of Taxes and becomes a lien on the property, collected the same way as delinquent property taxes on the next tax bill. This cost-recovery mechanism mirrors the one used for the Commission's own tree-planting costs under § 336-1. Section 336-4 separately requires Shade Tree Commission consent before any state, county or municipal body, or any private party doing sidewalk, curbing or paving work, interferes with or injures a highway shade tree, meaning a contractor cannot cut roots or limbs incident to street work without the Commission's sign-off.

The clearance duty is distinct from Article II's tree-removal permit system: trimming to keep the statutory clearance does not itself require a tree removal permit, but removal or substantial injury to the tree does, under § 336-9.