Irving, TX Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

6(b)(1) puts the maintenance duty on the tree's owner, not the city: any tree adjacent to a public right-of-way must be kept pruned to a minimum of fourteen feet of clearance above the traveled pavement or curb of the street. The same subsection requires owners to remove dead, diseased, or dangerous trees and any broken or decayed limbs that pose a danger to public safety, rather than waiting for a complaint. The city itself keeps a standing right to prune any tree overhanging the right-of-way if it blocks light from a street lamp, blocks visibility of a traffic control device or sign, or otherwise threatens public safety, so a homeowner who lets a limb grow into a stop sign's sightline can find the city doing the cutting instead.

5(d) bans tree topping citywide: severely cutting limbs back to stubs larger than three inches in diameter within a tree's crown, to the point of removing its normal canopy and disfiguring it, is prohibited, whether the tree sits over a street or elsewhere on the lot. That topping ban carries two built-in exceptions the director can apply: trees severely damaged by storms or other causes, and trees growing under utility wires or other obstructions where standard pruning practices aren't practical. Both duties sit inside the same tree-preservation article that funds Irving's tree program, and stump removal after any authorized cutting in the right-of-way must bring the stump below ground level rather than leaving it protruding above the surface.