Minnetonka, MN Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 845.010 of the Minnetonka City Code lists the conditions the City Council has declared to be nuisances affecting public peace, safety and general welfare. Three items bear on tree work. Item 1 covers interfering with, obstructing or rendering dangerous for passage a public highway or right-of-way. Item 3 covers trees, hedges, billboards or other obstructions that prevent persons from having a clear view of traffic approaching an intersection. Item 21 covers a tree on private property that the city forester has determined has defects in its structure, roots or branches that are likely to cause the tree or part of it to fail, and is likely to damage public property or improvements when it fails. Both parts of the item 21 test must be met before a tree qualifies.

Enforcement runs through section 845.045. The enforcement officer gives written notice by personal service or certified mail, or by posting the notice for at least 72 hours when the property is unoccupied or no responsible party can be identified. The notice names the property, cites the code provision, states the steps to take and a reasonable time to abate, and warns that the city can abate the nuisance and assess its costs against the property. The owner or occupant can appeal in writing to the city clerk before the abatement deadline or within seven calendar days after service, whichever comes first. A timely appeal goes to a City Council hearing, with notice given at least ten days before the hearing. Summary abatement without that process is available when there is an immediate threat to public health or safety or of serious property damage.

Pruning is also addressed in two other parts of the code. In the shoreland district, section 300.25 subdivision 11 allows limited clearing and the cutting, pruning and trimming of trees in shore and bluff impact zones to provide a view to the water from the principal structure, subject to screening, shading and restoration conditions, and exempts the removal of trees, limbs or branches that are dead, diseased or pose safety hazards. In the tree protection ordinance, section 314.01, applied whenever construction, site work, development or redevelopment occurs on a property, the definition of removal includes pruning 30% or more of the crown and trimming an oak between April 1st and July 15th.