Springfield, OH Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Springfield Codified Ordinances Section 907.08, Dangerous Trees and Obstructions, treats a tree that obstructs or shades streetlights, blocks pedestrian passage on sidewalks, or obscures a street or alley intersection as a dangerous tree subject to the chapter's removal and pruning process. The section sets a specific numeric standard for that obstruction: the minimum clearance of any overhanging tree branch, or portion of one, must be fifteen and one-half feet above the pavement of any sidewalk, alley, street or principal thoroughfare. Section 907.10, Trimming Trees Near Streetlights, imposes a second, separate clearance duty directly on property owners, occupants and their agents: they must trim and keep trimmed any tree growing near a streetlight so that no branch comes closer than six feet, measured horizontally, to the light fixture or the post it sits on.

Both duties apply to trees on private premises as well as trees over the public right-of-way, since low or encroaching branches on private property are what typically create the sidewalk and streetlight obstructions the sections address. The City Forester enforces both standards and can order an owner to prune a noncompliant tree; Section 907.11 lets the City Manager have the work done and bill the owner if a Forester's order goes unheeded.