Chapter 11.04
STREET TREE REGULATIONS
Sections:
11.04.040 Administration, authority – Director of Public Works.
11.04.070 Erection, alteration or removal of buildings.
11.04.080 Subdivision street tree plans.
11.04.090 Diseased, nuisance trees.
11.04.100 Nonliability of City – Duty of property owner.
11.04.120 Violation, penalties.
11.04.010 Title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Street Tree Ordinance of the City of Newman.
11.04.020 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases and words shall have the meaning given herein:
Approved Trees, Nonconforming Trees. Trees planted and growing in accordance with the Street Tree Plan, both as to variety and location, shall be known as “approved trees.” All other street trees shall be known as “nonconforming trees.”
“Permit” means written or printed authorization issued by the City Clerk.
Street Trees, Street Tree Areas. All trees planted or growing within the public rights-of-way, public access easements, streets, parking strips, alleys, roads and ways within the City shall be known as “street trees”; the locations herein referred to shall be known as “street tree areas.” (Ord. 2004-2 § 1, 9-28-2004)
11.04.030 Street Tree Plan.
A. It shall be the duty of the City Planning Commission to prepare and adopt a Street Tree Plan for the City, specifying a list of approved street trees, a uniform method of street tree planting, and designating certain streets or blocks of certain specimens of tree or trees.
B. Said Plan shall be submitted to the City Council and after adoption of the Plan, as submitted or modified, in accordance with law it shall become the Street Tree Plan of the City.
No street tree shall hereafter be planted except in accordance with the Street Tree Plan and the provisions of this chapter.
11.04.040 Administration, authority – Director of Public Works.
A. It shall be the duty of the Director of Public Works of the City to administer, control and regulate the street tree program of the City in accordance with the provisions of the Street Tree Plan and of this chapter.
B. The Director of Public Works shall have the authority to prune, trim, clip, spray, maintain and care for the street trees or private trees to the extent that they overhang or project within public rights-of-way, or public roads of the City, as needed, to remove or require the removal by the owner of the adjoining property of diseased dead trees, and encourage planting of approved trees throughout the City. (Ord. 279, 11-12-1974)
11.04.050 Permits required.
A. No person shall plant or remove any street tree without first obtaining a permit from the City Clerk. Said permit shall be issued only for work to be done in compliance with the Street Tree Plan and this chapter, and shall be issued without a fee. All work done pursuant to a permit shall be done under the supervision of the Director of Public Works. Whenever any street tree, whether approved or nonconforming, is removed or needs replacing, it must be replaced with a tree approved for that specific street tree area.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the City Clerk shall issue to any person doing business as a public utility, subject to the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission and holding a valid franchise, a permit which shall authorize the cutting or removal of trees necessary for the safety and proper maintenance of said utilities’ service pursuant to the orders, rules, and regulations of said California Public Utilities Commission. Such a permit, unless renewed, shall expire at the end of one year after the date of issuance, or it may be revoked for good cause.
B. Public utilities providing gas, water, electric, telephone or telegraph service to residents of the City may, in those emergency cases where street trees are interrupting said services, trim or remove branches of said trees only to the extent necessary to restore said service without first securing a permit. (Ord. 77-12, 4-12-1977)
11.04.060 Illegal acts.
A. Abuse or Mutilation of Trees. No person shall abuse, destroy or mutilate any street tree; nor attach or place any rope or wire (other than a rope or wire customarily used to support a young or broken tree), sign, poster, handbill, paint or any other substance, structure, thing or device of any kind or nature whatsoever, to or on any street tree; nor allow any gaseous liquid or solid substance which is harmful to such tree to come in contact with it.
B. Open Ground for Trees. No person shall place or maintain any stone, cement or other substance so that it shall impede the free access of water or air to the roots of any street tree; not less than 12 square feet of open ground shall be left and maintained around every street tree.
C. Interference with Work of Director of Public Works. No person shall in any way interfere with the Director of Public Works or other City employees or City contractors while they are lawfully engaged in planting, mulching, pruning, trimming, spraying, treating or removing any street tree, or in removing any stone, cement or other substance from about the trunk of any street tree.
D. Private Trees. No person shall allow or maintain any tree on private property to become a hazard to pedestrian or vehicular traffic obstructing vision or impairing necessary clearance, or in any manner endangering the security or usefulness of any public street, sewer, sidewalk or other public property.
Any such private tree allowed or maintained contrary to the provisions of this section is hereby declared to be a public nuisance; upon a determination by the Director of Public Works that such private tree constitutes a nuisance, he shall give written notice to the owner of the property upon which said nuisance exists to trim, remove or otherwise control such tree in such a manner as will abate such nuisance. Failure to comply with such written notice within 10 days thereafter, shall be deemed a violation of this section. Such written notice may be given by a personal service of a copy thereof, or by placing a copy of said notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the owner of the property as shown by the last assessment roll of the City.
11.04.070 Erection, alteration or removal of buildings.
When the erection, repair, alteration or removal of any building, house or structure necessitates the trimming, pruning or removal of any street tree, such trimming, pruning or removal shall be done only after written permit issued by the City Clerk and at the expense of the applicant. As a condition to granting a permit, under this section for the removal of a tree, the City Clerk shall collect a deposit from the applicant sufficient to defray the cost of replacing said removed tree with an approved tree in conformance with the Street Tree Plan. The amount of such deposit shall be determined and set from time to time by resolution duly passed by the City Council.
11.04.080 Subdivision street tree plans.
A. With or before the filing of any final map of any new subdivision, the subdivider shall either file with the Planning Commission a proposed plan of street tree planting showing the location and variety of trees proposed to be planted in the subdivision, or shall request the Planning Commission to designate the type and location of street trees for such subdivision and file same with the City Council before approval of the final subdivision map.
B. Subdividers are hereby required to deposit a sum to be set from time to time by the resolution of the City Council duly passed upon determination and recommendation of the City Engineer and/or the Director of Public Works, said sum to be based on front footage, and said sum to be used by the City for planting street trees within its subdivisions. Prior to the approval of the final subdivision map, the deposit shall have been either paid or guaranteed by the subdivider’s bond pursuant to NCC 6.04.030(B). After planting, the subdivider or property owners in the subdivisions shall maintain said trees at their own expense. Subdividers shall comply with NCC 6.06.030(B).
11.04.090 Diseased, nuisance trees.
A. In case, in any part of the City any approved trees should at any time become subject to pests or otherwise unsuitable as street trees, the owners of not less than 50 percent of the front footage on any block and not less than 50 percent of the frontage of the block facing the same on the opposite side of the street may apply to the Planning Commission for change in the variety of approved trees on such block. Block shall mean the block fronting on any street between cross streets. The Planning Commission shall give at least 10 days’ notice of hearing such application to the owners of lands on said block to be affected by such proposed change, by mail addressed to them at the address shown on the current assessment roll, and shall publish a notice of said hearing at least once in a newspaper published in the City. At said hearing the Planning Commission shall hear the evidence presented and shall take into consideration the effect of said change on the general tree planting program of the City.
B. Any person dissatisfied with the decision of the Planning Commission may appeal the same to the City Council within 10 days after notice of such decision. The City Council shall consider such appeal at its next regular meeting or at such time as it may be continued, and its decision shall be final. In like manner and upon like notice and with similar right of appeal, the Planning Commission may at its own motion consider and make changes in said street tree plan, and shall determine the type and location of street trees to be planted along any new street that may be opened in the City, and in such a case shall give the notice and be subject to appeal as above set forth.
11.04.100 Nonliability of City – Duty of property owner.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to impose any liability upon the City, its officers or employees, nor to relieve the owner of any private property from the duty to keep any tree, shrub or plant upon any street tree area on his property or under his control in such condition as to prevent it from constituting a hazard or an impediment to travel or vision upon any street, park, pleasure ground, boulevard, alley or public place within the City.
11.04.110 Appeals.
Any person dissatisfied with any order of the Director of Public Works may appeal therefrom to the City Council by filing a written notice of appeal with the City Clerk not more than five days after the date of such order. Said appeal shall be considered at the next regular meeting of the City Council and its decision shall be final. The acts of the Director of Public Works in ordinary trimming and maintenance of street trees are not subject to appeal. (Ord. 279, 11-12-1974)
11.04.120 Violation, penalties.
A. Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of an infraction and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable as provided by NCC 1.04.010.
B. Where any work is done or materials purchased by the City in performing any of the acts required by this chapter after failure of the owner or occupant of the abutting property to do so upon demand, the cost thereof may be recovered from such owner or occupant by civil action. The bringing of such action shall not prevent a criminal prosecution for the same act or omission. (Ord. 77-5, 2-22-1977; Ord. 279, 11-12-1974)