Gilroy, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Gilroy's tree ordinance puts street tree work squarely under the director of parks and recreation's control. City Code Section 26.7 makes it unlawful for anyone other than the director or the director's authorized agents or employees to cut, trim, prune, spray, brace, plant, move, remove or replace a tree in a public street without a written permit, and the director can void that permit if its terms are violated. Section 26.6 gives the director the same jurisdiction over the trimming, removal, relocation and replacement of street trees generally, and Section 26.9 limits who may act under a Section 26.7 permit: besides the property owner, the city or a public utility, only a person whose principal business is tree surgery, trimming or maintenance, found qualified by the director and licensed by the director of finance to do that business in the city, may perform the work.

Utilities get their own permit track under Section 26.8, valid for one year, letting them trim or remove trees that encroach on their lines to keep operations safe. Separately from the permit system, Section 26.11 lets the director inspect any tree adjacent to or overhanging a public street to determine whether it is a hazard or impediment to travel; a tree on private property that overhangs or interferes with street use and, in the director's opinion, endangers life, health, safety or property is declared a public nuisance, and if the owner does not correct or remove it within ten days of written notice, the director removes it and assesses the cost to the owner.

Section 26.12 makes clear this inspection power does not shift liability to the city and does not relieve the property owner of the ongoing duty to keep trees under the owner's control from becoming a nuisance. Any violation of the chapter, including unpermitted trimming or ignoring a nuisance-removal notice, is an infraction under Section 26.17.