San Diego County, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

For most private-property trees in unincorporated San Diego County, routine trimming and pruning do not require a county permit. The main regulated situations are: (1) trees within the county road right-of-way, and (2) trees within sensitive habitat or resource-protection areas. Trees located in or overhanging a County road right-of-way are governed by County Code Title 7, Division 1, Chapter 5, administered by the County Department of Public Works (DPW). Any planting, trimming, or removal of right-of-way trees requires a DPW tree permit; the species must be approved by the DPW Director, and permittees agree to trim or remove plantings when DPW directs that it is needed for roadway improvement, grading, realignment, sight-distance, or safety. Separately, in fire-prone areas, defensible-space and combustible-vegetation rules require removing dead, dying, or diseased branches and limbs and maintaining clearance around structures and chimneys. Trees on parcels subject to a biological open-space easement or the Resource Protection Ordinance may have additional limits on cutting native vegetation. For purely ornamental pruning of a healthy tree on your own lot away from roads and protected habitat, no county approval is typically needed.