Harrisburg, PA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 10-101.12 of the Harrisburg Codified Ordinances puts the trimming duty on the property owner, not on the City. Branches of shade trees that overhang the streets and highways of the City have to be cut back so they do not obstruct the visibility of any traffic control device or the light from any streetlight, and so that there is a clear height of 15 feet above the surface of the street or sidewalk. The 15 foot figure applies to the street surface and the sidewalk alike.

Cost follows the same line. Section 10-101.3 makes the owners of the property in front of which a shade tree stands responsible for the cost and expense of maintaining, trimming and caring for the tree after it is planted. That section carries one printed exemption: it does not apply to owner-occupants over the age of 65. Section 10-101.12 itself prints no exemption.

Trimming a street tree is also a permit activity. Section 10-101.4 says no person shall plant, cut, trim, or remove any shade tree under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Enrichment without first obtaining a permit from the Department, and the trimming duty in § 10-101.12 sits in the same chapter. Section 10-101.9 separately bars anyone from breaking, injuring, mutilating, killing or destroying a shade tree.

If an owner does not act, § 10-101.15 declares a public nuisance any shade tree, or any tree growing on private property, that overhangs a street or highway so that it obstructs the visibility of a traffic control device, endangers the life, health, safety or property of the public in the opinion of the Department or the Bureau of Police, or is affected by a contagious disease or insect infestation. The owner is notified in writing and given reasonable time for correction or removal. If the work is not done in the allotted time, the Department does it and the cost can be assessed to the owner as provided by law.

At street corners the zoning code adds a sight triangle in § 7-307.14: each of the two shorter legs is measured 30 feet back from the point of intersection of the street cartways, and the area is kept free of sight obstructions between a height of three feet and eight feet, including vegetation.