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

Article 2 of Chapter 20, first adopted in 1917 and last amended by Ordinance No. 730 in January 1999, gives the County Engineer, who sits within the Department of Public Works, sole authority over vegetation on Kaua'i's public roadways and on land the County owns or leases. Section 20-2.1 states the Article's purpose as regulating and controlling the trimming, cutting and destruction of trees, bushes and plants on the public highways and public lands of the County. Section 20-2.2 then bars anyone from mutilating, cutting down, removing, trimming out, chopping, clipping, burning or otherwise injuring such vegetation without first securing the County Engineer's authorization, covering both plants rooted in the road right-of-way and those on County-owned or leased parcels.

The rule reaches everyday clearance work, roadside brush removal and landscaping crews clearing sightlines along County streets, not just deliberate tree removal. Because the statute names the County Engineer as the sole approving authority, a property owner or contractor who wants to trim a tree overhanging a public highway, or clear vegetation on County right-of-way fronting a lot, must apply to the Engineer before doing the work; the Code does not set a separate application form or fee for this authorization, leaving the process to the Engineer's practice.

Section 20-2.3 sets the penalty for violating Section 20-2.2 at a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars for each conviction, and because the two sections have stood largely unchanged since 1917, aside from the 1999 amendment adding the authorization requirement, that fine has never been indexed for inflation.