Moore, OK Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 14-103 of the Moore Code of Ordinances requires the owner of any premises abutting a street to trim trees, shrubs, and other plants growing in the parking strip between the sidewalk and the roadway, as well as vegetation elsewhere on the lot that overhangs streets, sidewalks, or alleys, whenever the boughs or limbs obstruct free and convenient passage, sight, or travel. The section sets an exact clearance standard: the lowest branches or foliage cannot hang lower than ten feet above the roadway of a street or alley, nor lower than eight feet above a sidewalk.

A tenant occupying the property, not just the titled owner, carries the same trimming duty. The same section separately requires the owner of any lot where trees, shrubs, plants, or another obstruction have grown into a traffic-sight hazard at an intersection or driveway to remove or cut back that growth so drivers can see approaching vehicles. Before the city cites anyone, the city manager or a designee must give five days' written notice to trim; only after that notice period expires without compliance does a violation occur, and the city may then abate the hazard itself in addition to any fine.

Every day the owner or occupant continues to neglect the required trimming after the five-day notice period is treated as its own separate offense, so an unresolved clearance violation compounds daily until it's corrected. This section dates to Prior Code Section 20-3 and was renumbered into the 1999 Code.