Costa Mesa, CA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Chapter V of Title 15 governs parkway trees. Section 15-126 requires a permit before anyone installs, replaces or alters a tree in a city median, parkway or tree easement, with the application process set out in section 15-127: submission to the public services department, and, where a tree must come down because its roots are damaging streets, curbs, gutters or sidewalks, or it poses a nuisance or liability risk, or it is dead or diseased, the parks, recreation facilities and parkways commission first gives recommendations before the director of public services acts, appealable to the city council.

Section 15-130 requires that all tree species placed in the public right-of-way comply with the street tree master plan within the streetscape and median design guidelines, and section 15-134 ties new plantings in city rights-of-way and other public places to that same master plan as adopted by city council. Section 15-135 sets minimum setbacks for parkway and tree-easement plantings: eight feet from fire hydrants, twenty-five feet from stop signs, and ten feet from driveways, in addition to species-specific aerial setbacks from street lamps and traffic signals found in the streetscape guidelines.

Section 15-131 requires a 3:1 replacement ratio, one 24-inch box tree and two 15-gallon trees for every mature tree removed as a 'convenience removal' of a problem species such as Ficus nitida or Ficus retusa, at the adjacent property owner's cost. Section 15-132 requires construction or excavation near a public tree to provide protection, such as a fence or guard, within a five-foot minimum of the trunk, extendable at the public services director's discretion.