San Clemente, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

24 places general landscape maintenance duty on the owner of any property fronting a street, sidewalk, bikeway, trail or parkway for trees, shrubs, hedges and ground cover on that property, including any portion overhanging the right-of-way, excluding designated street trees. 020(A)(1) sets the numeric clearance standard: a minimum 8-foot vertical clearance over the street, sidewalk, bikeway, trail or parkway, and a minimum 13-foot vertical clearance measured from the top of the curb, or the street edge where there is no curb, to any part of a tree.

Owners must also water street trees as needed and do ground-level trimming to preserve neat appearance and unobstructed use, while the City itself handles all major pruning, trimming or other tree surgery on street trees and controls insects, pests and disease on them; owners may not cut, carve, mutilate, prune or top a street tree except as the chapter allows. 020(B) and (C) impose a duty of care running to the public and make an owner who fails to maintain a tree, shrub, hedge or ground cover in a safe condition liable for resulting injuries or property damage.

030 lets the City Manager or a designee issue written notice to the owner to cut down, trim, remove or otherwise remedy it, and a permit is required first if the work could damage public improvements. 040 lets the City remove a street tree outright for a visual or safety hazard, disease or decay beyond correction, or unauthorized planting.