Greenburgh, NY Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Chapter 260A regulates entities, meaning utility companies and their agents or contractors, that maintain rights-of-way for distribution lines under 69 kilovolts. Section 260A-3A requires them to follow tree maintenance practices for utilities established by the National Arbor Day Foundation, unless the Department of Public Works' consulting arborist authorizes different terms in writing, or the utility and the ROW's grantor privately agree the grantor will handle maintenance to that same standard. Beyond routine pruning and trimming, § 260A-3B bars cutting, topping or removing a tree on a ROW unless it poses a danger to a distribution line; absent the grantor's written consent at least five days ahead, the utility must file a certification from a Department-designated arborist confirming the tree is diseased or dying, or so entangled with the line that pruning can't reasonably prevent it from falling on the line.

A tree that has already fallen on a line, or is judged in imminent danger of doing so, can be cut immediately without that certification. Any tree actually cut, topped or removed triggers a replacement obligation under § 260A-3C: replant if the ROW grantor asks, or otherwise take whatever erosion-and-drainage mitigation steps the Department's consulting arborist directs, using native species drawn from the Westchester County Planning Department, the New York City Parks Department's regional native species guide, or Cullina's "Native Trees, Shrubs and Vines," with terms set by the consulting arborist if the utility and grantor can't agree within 45 days.