Kingsport, TN Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 106-26(d) of the Kingsport Code puts the pruning duty on the person owning or occupying property that borders city right-of-way. Trees on that property have to be pruned so they do not obstruct or shade streetlights, block the view of traffic signs or signals, block the view of any street intersection, or otherwise endanger the public. The numeric standard is a minimum clearance for any overhanging tree of eight vertical feet over a sidewalk and 14 vertical feet over any street.

The electrical exception is narrow. Where an electrical hazard is involved, the owner or occupant does not do the pruning but must contact the appropriate utility supplier and request it. Section 106-25(f) repeats the same clearance figures for trees on property the city owns in fee, and section 106-26(f) applies the section 106-25 rules to the dedicated right-of-way strip between the outer edges of sidewalks, or between outer pavement edges where no sidewalk is present.

The City of Kingsport keeps its own authority too. Section 106-26(a) gives the city the right to prune, maintain and remove trees, plants, branches and shrubs within city rights-of-way as deemed necessary to promote public safety or to prevent interference with use of the right-of-way. Separately, section 106-52 bars any owner, lienholder, occupant or manager of land from letting plant growth of any sort make an adjoining street, alley, sidewalk or public way unsafe for travel or impede pedestrian or vehicular traffic.

The landscape specialist administers Article II of Chapter 106. Under section 106-23(b), the landscape specialist, the chief of police and the traffic engineer consult on street trees that are a hazard to traffic safety. Section 106-27 requires a written permit from the landscape specialist before anyone prunes a public tree, meaning a tree on land the city owns in fee, and the application must be made not less than two working days ahead of the work. Topping a public tree is unlawful under section 106-25(d), with exemptions for storm-damaged trees and trees under utility wires.