Austin, TX Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Article 2 of Austin City Code Chapter 6-3 sets four planting and maintenance limits for the strip where private yards meet streets and sidewalks. The street corner rule in Section 6-3-21 applies only to property at a street corner intersection, inside a ten-foot setback from the curbline and 40 feet along the curbline from the intersection. In that zone no one may place, maintain, or permit a plant more than two feet taller than the level of the ground surrounding the plant, or on property more than one foot above the level of an adjacent street.

The word permit matters: an owner answers for growth that is allowed to stay, not only for what was planted. Section 6-3-22 bars any tree or plant within five feet of a fire hydrant. Section 6-3-23 prohibits a tree or plant that overgrows or obstructs a sidewalk so that the public cannot use it, and requires limbs growing over a sidewalk to be trimmed to a minimum clearance of 14 feet above the street level, measured at the nearest curbline. Section 6-3-24 adds a maintenance standard: plants must be kept compatible with the aesthetic character of the public right-of-way.

The chapter defines curbline as the boundary of a street or alley used for vehicular traffic, and owner as the record owner, the occupant, or a person with the right to exercise control over the property, so a tenant in control of the yard carries the same duty as the landlord. Separately, Section 6-3-62 governs trees planted on public property: none within 10 lateral feet of an overhead utility line if the tree can reach 20 feet in height, and none within five lateral feet of an underground utility line.

Work on a tree on public property needs the urban forester's approval under Section 6-3-71, requested on a form at least five business days before work begins, with approval deemed granted if the forester has not acted by the 15th business day and no processing fee allowed.