Queen Creek, AZ Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 10-3-2 of the Queen Creek Town Code lists dozens of conditions the Town formally designates as public nuisances, and subsection (T) covers landscaping and trees. Any landscaping visible from public property or a neighbor's lot that is dead, damaged, overgrown, or blighted is a nuisance under this subsection, along with dead trees, shrubs, and stumps, and palm or similar trees whose dead or dry fronds hang more than eight feet below the lowest living frond, or whose dry fronds exceed five feet in length within eight feet of the ground.

The same subsection sets the clearance standard tied to public safety: trees overhanging a sidewalk must be trimmed to at least eight feet above the walking surface, and trees overhanging a street must be trimmed to at least 14 feet above street grade so fire apparatus and solid waste trucks can pass without striking branches. This sits within the broader nuisance framework of Article 10-3, which the Town enforces through the abatement procedures of § 10-3-16 and Article 10-2, letting the Town Manager, Town Attorney, or Town Prosecutor seek a court order for trimming, clean-up, or other corrective action, with reasonable costs and attorneys' fees charged to the owner.

Under § 10-3-17, a general Article 10-3 violation is a civil offense punishable under § 9-21-2, and each day the untrimmed tree remains a hazard is treated as a separate violation; the harsher Class 3 misdemeanor that § 10-3-17 carves out is reserved for the burning-of-refuse and obstruction subsections, not the tree-clearance rule itself.