Santa Cruz County, CA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

SCCC § 9.70.050(A) makes it unlawful to encroach on, alter, or place anything within a County-maintained road right-of-way without first getting a written encroachment permit from the Department of Public Works. Subsection (A)(1) then carves out a short list of things residents may do without a permit provided they don't create a traffic hazard or interfere with normal road maintenance: postal-approved rural mailboxes, newspaper delivery receptacles, and plantings in a parkway area behind the curb or flow line, so long as the planting doesn't hinder or impede pedestrian traffic. The Code defines "parkway" at SCCC § 13.13.020(24) as the area between a sidewalk and the curb or traffic lane, whether planted or unplanted.

The exemption is conditional, not permanent. Under § 9.70.050(B), the Public Works Director can require removal of any exempt planting whenever it is placed or maintained so as to create a traffic hazard, interfere with normal road maintenance, or otherwise violate the conditions that authorized it in the first place, meaning overgrown shrubs or trees that block sightlines or a sidewalk can be ordered out at any time without the formal encroachment-permit process.

Larger development projects face an additional, separate standard: where street trees are installed as a condition of a project subject to design review under SCCC § 13.11.040, § 13.11.070(D)(1)(c) requires the trees to match existing street tree species and spacing and, within County rights-of-way, to be chosen from the "Recommended Santa Cruz County Right-of-Way Trees" list in the Santa Cruz Urban Forestry Master Plan. That design-review species standard applies on top of, not instead of, the no-permit parkway allowance available to individual property owners.