(A) Trimming and removal required.
(1) The owner or occupant of any private property shall keep all trees standing on private property so trimmed that no bough or branch thereof shall hang lower than 8 feet above the surface of a public sidewalk or 12 feet above the surface of the portion of the street or alley traveled by vehicles.
(2) The owner or occupant of any private property shall remove or cause to be removed any dead tree or dead or broken bough or branch on a tree standing on private property and overhanging any public right-of-way.
(B) Superintendent’s authority. The City Forester is authorized and directed to summarily remove any tree or bough or branch of a tree standing on any private property and overhanging any public right-of-way, when in his or her judgment, the presence of a like tree, bough or branch constitutes an imminent danger to persons on private or public property.
(C) Prohibited acts. No person shall perform any of the following acts:
(1) Maliciously injure any trees growing on any public right-of-way;
(2) Allow any wire or other foreign object to touch any tree growing on any public right-of-way, without first having secured a permit therefor from the City Forester. No permit shall be granted except for good cause;
(3) Impede the free passage of water and air to any tree growing on any public right-of-way; or
(4) Remove or cause to be removed any tree from any public right-of-way without having first secured a permit therefor from the City Forester. Each permit shall be valid for a period of not more than 60 days.
(D) Permissible acts. The owner or occupant of any private premises abutting on any public right-of-way may maintain and protect any tree standing on a public right-of-way, providing that in doing so the owner or occupant complies with the provisions of this subchapter.
(1987 Code, § 602.05)