Brentwood, CA Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

006, covering the roughly 720-acre PD-20 area on the city's community development plan. The code states its purpose directly: to preserve native oak species and the scenic qualities and open space they create. Every existing oak tree of four-inch caliper or greater, measured four and one-half feet above grade, must be plotted on both the preliminary and final grading plans; only an arborist's finding of poor health justifies removal, and a tree report must be submitted and approved with each grading plan. Trees slated for preservation get a protective fence set one foot outside the dripline before any grading or construction begins.

Grade cuts and fill are barred within ten feet of the trunk, and no cut or fill deeper than one foot is allowed anywhere inside the dripline; fill or paving that does occur must use porous material chosen by a registered landscape architect. Trenching for underground utilities inside a dripline must be hand dug, bored, or drilled rather than machine-trenched. No structures, swimming pools, or buildings may sit within an oak's dripline, and the buildable envelope excluding that area must be recorded on the tentative map.

Irrigation inside a dripline needs the community development director's sign-off, and landscaping under a preserved oak is limited to a list of drought-tolerant native and Mediterranean species, with a ten-foot no-planting buffer around the trunk. ' When a healthy oak is removed under an approved development plan, it must be replaced with a forty-eight-inch box blue oak carrying a seven-to-eight-foot canopy and sixteen-foot height, planted on public land, the golf course, open space, or a view easement, with the developer posting a maintenance bond, cash, or other security to guarantee the replacement survives its first year.