Rocklin, CA Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Chapter 12.08 governs the planting strip, defined in Section 12.08.020 as the area available for planting between the street curb, or where the curb should be, and the property line. Section 12.08.030 puts the city manager's designated administrator in charge of a continuing evaluation program: the administrator tests tree types and varieties and, when satisfied a species accomplishes the chapter's beautification, shade and air-quality purposes, adds it to the official tree planting list. Subsection C is the operative planting rule: all new and replacement plantings on Rocklin streets must come from the current official list, though Section 12.08.040 allows experimental plantings of other species in selected areas to test suitability, and a successful experimental planting is deemed an approved street tree once in place.

In choosing where a listed species goes, Section 12.08.040(B) directs the administrator to weigh interference with utilities, driveway approaches, street intersections and building exposures, plus the width of the planting strip, soil conditions, zoning, street patterns, building setbacks and the species' availability. Because street trees sit in the public right-of-way, planting one without going through this list-and-approval process, or without the separate written permit required by Section 12.08.090, exposes a property owner to removal or corrective action by the administrator under Sections 12.08.070 and 12.08.080.