Union, NY Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Section 83-7.1 of the Town of Union Code was added on August 8, 2012 by Local Law No. 8-2012 and sits inside Chapter 83, Brush, Grass and Weeds. Subsection A makes it the duty of the owner or occupant of premises on which trees, bushes or hedges stand to trim them. The duty names both the owner and the occupant. Subsection B sets the clearance standard. Ornamental shade trees, bushes and hedges standing within, or with branches extending over, any public street, avenue or sidewalk in the Town outside the incorporated villages must be trimmed so the lowest branches are not less than 10 feet from the ground, and no part of the bushes or hedges can extend into the Town's right-of-way.

Subsection C covers enforcement. If a person fails to trim after being requested to do so by the Commissioner of Public Works or the Code Enforcement Officer, that official causes the tree, bushes or hedges to be trimmed, and the cost is assessed in the same manner as real property taxes are assessed. The request comes first, and the Town does the work and bills for it only after that request goes unheeded.

Corner lots carry a second clearance rule in the zoning chapter. Section 300-53.14 keeps branches or foliage of trees no less than 10 feet from the ground inside the triangular area formed at a corner by the intersecting street lines and a line joining points 25 feet from the point of intersection, and it holds shrubbery and solid-barrier fences in that triangle to two feet in height measured from the accepted street grade. Because Chapter 83 covers the Town outside the incorporated villages, a property inside the Village of Endicott or the Village of Johnson City follows that village's code instead. Section 83-9 sets the chapter's penalty, and Section 83-10 adds inspection fees for repeat notices.