Yuma, AZ Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

Yuma City Code Chapter 137 defines the 'parkway' as the area along a public street between the curb and the sidewalk, or, where there's no curb or sidewalk, the unpaved strip between the street right-of-way line and the paved portion of the street or alley. A 'street tree' is any tree that grows to an average mature height of 30 feet or more, with a high branching pattern and an upright or rounded crown, planted near the sidewalk or street to shade pedestrians and give the street visual enclosure; the code favors low-maintenance, low-litter species for this role.

Under §137-04(F), an adjacent property owner may plant and maintain trees in the parkway strip in front of their lot, but only after obtaining a free encroachment permit from the Engineering Department and free blue-staking before any digging; the property owner then carries ongoing responsibility for reasonable and routine maintenance of that parkway landscaping. New plantings should be drawn from the City of Yuma Recommended Plants List, and nothing may be planted under or within fifteen feet of an overhead utility wire except species on that list, per §137-04(D).

Section 137-04(H) sets the clearance standard for every street tree: pruning and maintenance must leave a minimum of 12 feet of clearance over any roadway and 7 feet over any sidewalk. If a parkway tree grows to obstruct a driver's view or block pedestrians, §137-04(G) lets the city order the owner to prune or remove it, and if the owner does not comply, the city can do the work itself and charge the cost back to the property owner. Tree-topping is banned outright under §137-04(C), and violations of the chapter are a class 3 misdemeanor under §137-99.