Tree trimming in unincorporated Santa Barbara County is driven by wildfire defensible-space rules rather than a general pruning permit. The Fire Department's Standard #6 sets vertical clearances and limb-trimming distances within the 100-foot defensible-space zones around structures and along access roads.
There is no countywide ordinance requiring a permit simply to prune an ordinary tree on private land. Instead, trimming obligations come from the County Fire Department's Defensible Space Development Standard #6 and County Code Chapter 15 (Fire Code). Within Zone 1 (the structure out to 30 feet) owners must remove dead tree or shrub branches overhanging roofs or adjacent to walls and windows, and remove tree limbs within ten feet of chimney openings (§6.5.1–6.5.2). In Zone 2 (30 to 100 feet) mature trees must be trimmed so there is a minimum vertical clearance of six feet, or one-third the height of the tree, whichever is less (§7.4.4), and deadwood, including palm fronds, must be removed. Along driveways and roads (Zone 3) tree limbs must be cleared to thirteen feet six inches above the road surface (§8.5.2). Note that pruning a protected deciduous oak so severely that it kills the tree can count as a regulated "removal" under the County's Oak Tree Protection ordinance (see tree-removal-permits). Routine ornamental pruning outside fire zones is generally unregulated by the County.
Trimming violations are enforced through the fire-hazard abatement process under County Fire Code Section 4911: the fire chief issues an order, and non-compliance after the stated period (not less than ten days) is an infraction with County-performed abatement costs added to the property tax bill. Excessive pruning of a protected oak may trigger Oak Tree Protection ordinance enforcement and penalties.
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