Madera, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)
Key Facts
- Ordering official
- Director of Code Enforcement
- Covered locations
- Private property, parking strips, public places
- Trigger
- Endangers street, sewer, sidewalk, or utility wires
- Legal status
- Declared a public nuisance
- Penalty basis
- § 1-2.01 citywide misdemeanor/infraction
Summary
Madera Municipal Code § 4-6.04 lets the Director of Code Enforcement order a property owner to trim or remove any tree or shrub, whether on private land or the parking strip out front, once it endangers a public street, sewer, sidewalk, or overhead utility wires. The code labels that condition a public nuisance outright.
Any trees or shrubs growing in a public parking strip or in any public place or in private property, which trees or shrubs are endangering, or which in any way may endanger, the security or usefulness of any public street, sewer, sidewalk, or the full and safe operation of public utility wires, are declared to be a public nuisance, and the Director of Code Enforcement may require the property owner to remove or trim any such tree on private property or on a parking strip abutting upon such owner's property.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2024 S-50: Current through Ordinance 1010 C.S., passed 6-5-24).
Full Breakdown
04, unchanged in substance since a 1982 amendment (Ord. ) to the original 1965 chapter (Ord. ), covers three locations: a public parking strip, any other public place, and private property. In every case the trigger is the same: the tree or shrub endangers, or may in any way endanger, the security or usefulness of a public street, sewer, or sidewalk, or the full and safe operation of public utility wires. The code does not require proof of actual damage; a tree that merely threatens those interests already meets the nuisance standard.
Once that finding is made, the Director of Code Enforcement can require the property owner to remove the tree entirely or simply trim it back, and the authority reaches trees on the owner's own private property as well as the parking strip abutting it, meaning a homeowner is responsible for clearance issues on the public strip in front of their house even though that strip is technically public right-of-way. 05, which separately bans cutting, mutilating, or attaching signs and wires to any tree in a public place. 01(B) if an owner does not comply with a trim or removal order, in addition to standard misdemeanor or infraction charges.
Violations & Fines
Failing to trim or remove a tree the Director of Code Enforcement has flagged as a hazard to streets, sewers, sidewalks, or utility wires exposes the owner to the citywide penalty at § 1-2.01: a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in jail, usually charged as an infraction since 1981 under state law, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense and the condition summarily abatable as a public nuisance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can order me to trim a tree blocking a Madera sidewalk?
Does a tree have to actually cause damage before Madera acts?
What if I ignore a trim order under § 4-6.04?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Madera
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