Honolulu County, HI Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

1 as the director of parks and recreation, to adopt administrative rules under HRS Chapter 91, Hawaii's rulemaking statute that requires public notice and a hearing before rules take effect. Those rules govern two things: the planting, trimming, and maintenance of shade trees, hedges, and shrubs within the public right-of-way on Oahu's public streets, and the issuance of permits for private citizens who want to replace, remove, plant, spray, trim, or prune a street tree. The section traces back to Sec. 4. 6. That section lets police and other authorized officers issue a citation for any violation of the article or its implementing rules, reserving arrest for three narrower situations: the person refuses to give their name and address, the person refuses to stop the illegal activity after being cited, or the person has already been cited for the same offense within the past year.

Citations must be on a form prescribed by the administrative judge of the district court, consecutively numbered, with a copy given to the violator, who then answers at the time and place stated on the citation. Because the code governs the whole island rather than a single incorporated city, the same permit-before-you-prune rule applies to a street tree fronting a house in Kailua or Waipahu exactly as it does to one on a street in town.