CHAPTER 8
TREES AND SHRUBS
SECTION:
5-8-1: Definitions
5-8-2: Landscape Provisions
5-8-1: DEFINITIONS:
   ARBORICULTURAL: The cultivation of trees; the art of planting, dressing and managing trees and shrubs.
   CLASS 1, 2, AND 3 TREES: Classes of trees listed in this chapter. Class 1 trees are usually small and ornamental. Class 2 trees are appropriate for planting near streets, sidewalks and paved areas and are medium to large in their size and shape. Class 3 trees are large and require considerable amounts of open space.
   CONTROLLER: Every person (owner, agent, tenant, occupant, contractor, developer or lessee) who exercises care, custody and control of real property, to include that abutting a right of way upon which a public tree or shrub is located.
   GENERALLY ACCEPTED IN PROFESSIONAL ARBORICULTURAL PRACTICE: As used in this chapter, this phrase shall mean and refer to a standard of care to be employed when planting, installing, selecting, caring for, maintaining, pruning, removing, or otherwise treating a tree or shrub. Such standard of care shall be consistent with techniques routinely employed by professionals trained and knowledgable in arboriculture.
   INJURIOUS PEST OR DISEASE: Organisms capable of seriously damaging the form or structural integrity of the tree.
   NUISANCE: Shall have the meaning described in subsection 5-8-2D of this chapter.
   PARKWAY: That portion of public right of way situated between the curb line of any street and the property line abutting and adjoining any street. In the absence of a curb, the curb line of a street shall be deemed to be the edge of that portion of public right of way maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. The purpose of the parkway is to increase pedestrian safety and to improve the visual aesthetics and environmental quality of roadways.
   PERSON: Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, company or organization of any kind.
   PESTICIDE: An agent used to destroy pests.
   PRUNING: The removal of plant parts, dead or alive, in a careful and systematic manner so as not to damage other parts of the plant or the tree as a whole.
   PUBLIC TREE AND/OR SHRUB: Any tree or shrub located, in whole or in part, upon or over any street or other public property.
   SHRUB: A multiple stemmed, woody plant whose height at maturity is between three feet (3') and fifteen feet (15').
   STREET: Highways, roads, alleys and bridges, dedicated, purchased or otherwise acquired for the public, including the unimproved or unused portion thereof, maintained and open to use by the public, including sidewalks, parkways and special tree planting easements adjacent to a street granted by property owners.
   TOPPING: Cutting back the limbs of a tree within the tree's crown to such a degree as to remove the natural canopy and disfigure the tree. Topping starves the tree of needed nutrients and increases its vulnerability to disease and insect infestation.
   TREE: A woody perennial plant usually having one main stem or trunk and many branches; it usually exceeds fifteen feet (15') in height at maturity.
   VISION OR SIGHT TRIANGLE: A protected vision area established to ensure that drivers have an unobstructed view as they come upon a driveway access, alleyway or intersection. Measuring from the projected intersection of the roadway edge a distance of forty feet (40') along each roadway edge and connecting the two (2) points with a straight line, this defines the boundaries of a vision triangle at the intersection of two (2) roads. (Ord. 527, 3-14-2005)
5-8-2: LANDSCAPE PROVISIONS:
   A.   Purpose And Intent: This section is intended to encourage the preservation, expansion, protection and proper maintenance of the city's public trees and shrubs. Its primary goals are:
Enhance the beauty of the city through appropriate tree and shrub landscape practices.
Encourage and stimulate the planting and growing of desirable trees and shrubs.
Educate the public about the protection and preservation of trees and shrubs.
Establish a protocol for the planting, retaining and removing of trees and shrubs as part of a development or redevelopment process.
Provide for the general care and maintenance of Parma's urban forest.
Protect the public health, safety and welfare.
   B.   Applicability: This section applies to all areas adjoining a public street; all trees and shrubs located in or partially in the public right of way, public parks, parkways and other city property, as well as to trees and shrubs located on public and private property that have been declared to be a public nuisance. This section shall also apply to all aspects of the construction development and redevelopment process involving the planting, retaining or removing of trees.
   C.   Care Of Trees And Shrubs In The City: Every controller shall be responsible for meeting all requirements of this chapter for tree and shrub landscaping, care and maintenance performed in or near any public right of way adjacent to the controller's private real property, including the following activities or actions:
      1.   Removal and replacement of public trees and shrubs, or portions thereof, that are declared to be a public nuisance. Whenever a public tree or shrub is removed, the controller shall replace it with a like variety, from the appropriate category, selected from the tables set forth in this chapter unless this replacement requirement is waived by the council for good cause shown.
      2.   Removal of private trees and shrubs located on the controller's private real property that are declared a public nuisance.
      3.   Pruning of trees and shrubs: The branches of trees that overhang sidewalks must be pruned to provide at least eight feet (8') of vertical clearance. Tree branches that overhang the street must be pruned to provide at least fourteen feet (14') of vertical clearance.
      4.   Removal, pruning, maintenance and care of public trees and shrubs shall be conducted in a manner generally accepted in professional arboricultural practice.
      5.   Control pests injurious to trees and shrubs.
      6.   Public tree and shrub debris and leaves that fall in the public streets shall be the city's responsibility to remove. Public or private tree and shrub debris and leaves that fall onto property adjacent to public streets, as well as leaves raked into the street, shall be the adjoining controller's responsibility to remove.
   D.   Public Nuisances: The following are hereby declared public nuisances:
      1.   Any tree, shrub or other plant, which by reason of location or condition: a) constitutes an imminent danger to the health, safety or welfare of the general public, b) harbors pathogens or injurious insects which reasonably may be expected to injure or harm other trees or shrubs, c) obstructs the free passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, d) obstructs a streetlight or traffic control device, and/or e) obstructs the view in the vision triangle.
      2.   Any tree suspected of having Dutch elm disease, unless it is being treated according to routine inspection and treatment program generally accepted in professional arboricultural practice.
      3.   Landscape areas that are not maintained and become inundated with weeds and/or trash.
      4.   Right to inspect: City agents have the authority to enter onto private property where there is reasonable cause to believe that there is a tree, shrub, or landscape area that is a public nuisance.
   E.   Nuisance Abatement: A controller shall take immediate steps that are generally accepted in professional arboricultural practice to abate any public nuisance described in this chapter. The city shall issue a written notice to be personally served or sent by certified mail to the person listed by the Canyon County assessor's office as the record owner of the particular property. The notice shall describe the nuisance and the steps necessary for its abatement. If any person fails or neglects to abate the nuisance within five (5) days from the delivery of the abatement notice, the city may proceed to abate the nuisance without further notice. Abatement costs will be assessed to the property and shall become a special assessment against the property upon which the nuisance existed or, if the nuisance was in the public right of way, the adjoining property with maintenance responsibilities outlined in this chapter.
   F.   Damaging, Endangering, Destroying Or Topping Of Public Trees Or Shrubs: It is unlawful for any person to:
      1.   Damage, mutilate or destroy any public tree or shrub.
      2.   Store or place, or cause to be stored or placed, oil, gasoline, chemicals (such as herbicides), or any other material harmful to vegetation, near a public tree or shrub.
      3.   Attach a potentially harmful device or structure (such as a tree house or sign) to a public tree or shrub.
      4.   Spill or dump substances, whether liquid or solid, which are toxic to persons, animals, trees, shrubs and vegetative matter.
      5.   Make excavations in the soil within one foot (1') of the roots of a public tree or shrub unless done in a manner generally accepted in professional arboricultural practice.
      6.   Damage roots of a public tree or shrub by compacting or filling on or around its base.
      7.   Damage a public tree or shrub by the practice of "topping", except those severely damaged through no fault of the controller or trees and shrubs under utility wires or other overhead obstructions.
      8.   Any person removing live or dead trees, shrubbery or other vegetative matter from city parks or along the streets and alleys of the city shall remove this vegetation in such a fashion that no tree stump or main root system remains to a depth of twelve inches (12") below the ground surface. After excavation, the ground is to be restored and the surface left smooth.
   G.   Violations: Failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter shall be a misdemeanor.
   H.   Recommended Public Tree And Shrub Categories: Anytime a controller or other person is required to plant or replace any public tree or shrub, the variety shall be chosen with specific reference to species characteristics including mature size and root structure. The city shall approve only those varieties that will be compatible with existing and future anticipated subsurface, surface and overhead uses, at the site including sidewalks, streets, overhead utilities, inground utilities, traffic and pedestrian sightlines, etc. Public trees and shrubs shall be categorized as follows:
      1.   Class 2 tree category: Medium sized trees planted for street tree and general landscape uses. These trees grow to heights varying from thirty (30) to sixty feet (60') and have a canopy spread extending thirty (30) to sixty feet (60').
      2.   Class 3 tree category: Long living trees that attain large height and trunk diameter may be utilized for street tree use, provided the area is large enough to accommodate them. These trees grow to heights varying from sixty (60) to one hundred feet (100') and possess a canopy spread extending thirty five (35) to eighty feet (80').
      3.   Class 1 tree category: The following trees and shrubs shall be placed below overhead power lines. These are class 1 trees; they generally grow to a maximum height of twenty five feet (25') and have a fifteen (15) to thirty foot (30') canopy spread.
Deciduous Trees
Conifers
Deciduous Trees
Conifers
Acer grandidentatum
Bigtooth maple
Juniperus chinensis columnar
Gold cost
Blue point
Mint julip
Pfitzer
Acer trancatum
Keithsform shanting maple
Warrenred shanting maple
Juniper scopulorum columnar (5 varieties available)
Juniperus Virginians
Hillspire juniper
Skyrock juniper
Alnus glutinosa
Alder
Thuja occidentalis
Woodwardi arborvitae
Brandon arborvitae
Emerald arborvitae
Amelanchier grandiflora
Princess Diana serviceberry
Amelanchier laevis
Serviceberry
Flowering Trees
Amelanchier grandiflora
Autumn serviceberry
Crataegus laevigata
Crimson cloud hawthorn
Amelanchier grandiflora
Cole select serviceberry
Crataegus virdis
Winterking green hawthorn
Caragana arborescens
Siberian peashrubs
Malus
Flowering crabapple (22 varieties available)
Cercis canadensis
Eastern redbud
Prunus triloba
Rose tree of China
Crataegus crus-galli
Inermis cockspur hawthorn
Pyrus calleryana
Pear
Crataegus phaenopyrum
Washington hawthorn
Syringa reticulata
Japanese tree lilac
Crataegus lavallei
Lavelle hawthorn
Prunus newport
Newport plum
Prunus padus commutate
May day tree
Prunus virginiana
Canada red chokecherry
Sorbus aucparia
European mountain ash
Ulmus glabra
Camperdown elm
 
(Ord. 527, 3-14-2005)