Merced, CA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

185 makes street tree planting a condition of the building permit itself: trees must be installed before occupancy, and any right-of-way or easement needed to accommodate them must be dedicated at the same time. Where landscaping, including street trees, is not already required as a condition of development approval, subsection B shifts the job to the city: Merced purchases and installs the trees for residential projects, and the property owner pays the cost the director determines before the building permit is even issued. 025 makes every street tree the exclusive property of the city, and the director of recreation and parks holds exclusive authority to plant, remove, prune, inspect, maintain or root-prune it.

030 lets the director designate the kind or variety of tree for any street, park, boulevard, alley or public place in line with the citywide 'Master Plan-Trees and Shrubs of the City of Merced' kept on file with the city clerk; a frontage owner may petition the recreation and parks commission for a particular variety, but that input is only advisory and the city council makes the final call. 190: private property owners must water the trees in the parkway strip adjacent to their land, since the city takes no responsibility for that watering, and the director can require a permit condition installing an irrigation system that the owner then maintains. If an owner lets a parkway tree die through neglect, the director can order it replaced at the owner's expense under subsection C.