(a) The Director of Public Safety and Service may issue a permit to a property owner or property owners to trim, prune or remove a tree or trees in the public rights of way or on the public grounds of the City when it has been established that such action is necessary to preserve the tree or trees or to protect the safety or welfare of the public.
No such permit shall be granted until a written application is made to the Director, in such form and manner as he shall require, citing the necessity of such action as hereinbefore set forth and accompanied by the written recommendation of the Tree Commission regarding the terms of its issuance.
In the event the property owner(s) in question object to the recommendation of the Tree Commission, then they may submit their objections to the Director for his consideration and review.
The Director may approve the recommendation of the Tree Commission as written, seek to negotiate an equitable resolution of the matter between the Tree Commission and the property owner(s), or formulate an independent basis for the issuance of the permit as he deems appropriate.
(Ord. 83(92-93). Passed 8-20-92.)
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the Director of Public Safety and Service may, when in his opinion after a thorough investigation the life, limb or property of no person will be injured, permit an abutting property owner or an unlicensed tree trimmer to remove small trees or limbs from trees, subject, however, to the approval of one of the members of the Tree Commission.
(1957 Code §20-4)