Corcoran Municipal Code Ch. 4 Trees and Shrubbery

This Chapter shall be known as the TREE CHAPTER and may be cited as such. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956)

The Public Works Director or the Director's duly authorized representative shall be charged with the enforcement of this Chapter. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

No trees or shrubs shall hereafter be planted in or removed from any public parking strip or other public place in the City without the permission of the Public Works Director. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

It shall be unlawful to plant in any public parking strip the following trees: eucalyptus, fruitless mulberry, conifers, sycamore, and poplar. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956)

The Public Works Director or the Director's duly authorized representative may cause to be trimmed, pruned or removed any trees, shrubs, plants or vegetation in any parking strip or other public place, or may require any property owner to trim, prune or remove any trees, shrubs, plants or vegetation in any parking strip abutting upon the owner's property, and failure to comply therewith after fifteen (15) days' notice by the Public Works Director shall be deemed a violation of this Chapter. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

A. Public Nuisance; Removal: Any tree or shrub growing in a parking strip or public place or in private property which is endangering or which in any way may endanger the security or usefulness of any public street, sewer, or sidewalk, is hereby declared to be a public nuisance, and the City may remove or trim such trees, or may require the property owner to remove or trim any such tree on private property or on a parking strip abutting upon the owner's property.

B. Failure To Remove; Abatement By City; Lien: Failure of the property owner or his/her duly authorized agent to remove or trim such tree after fifteen (15) days' notice by the Public Works Director shall be deemed a violation of this Chapter and the Public works Director may then remove or trim the tree. The cost of such removal, if not paid by the owner of record, shall constitute a lien against the property 1 .

C. Right Of Public Utility: Nothing contained in this Chapter shall be construed as limiting the right of any public utility to remove or trim trees which, in its opinion, endanger the safe operation of its wires, poles and appurtenances. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

A. Notice Filed With Clerk: Appeals from directions and orders made hereunder may be made by filing written notice thereof with the Clerk within fifteen (15) days after such direction and order is received, stating in substance that appeal is being made from such direction and order of the Council. The Clerk shall thereupon call such appeal to the attention of the Council at their next regular meeting next succeeding, at which meeting the appellant and the Public Works Director may present evidence. Action by the Council after such hearing shall be conclusive, and in the event the Council shall uphold the decision of the Public Works Director, the property owner or his/her duly authorized agent shall have fifteen (15) days thereafter to comply with such notice.

B. Liability: Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to impose any liability upon the City or its officers and employees, nor to relieve the owner of any private property from the duty to keep any tree, shrub or plant upon his/her property or under his/her 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. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

No person shall cut, trim, prune, plant, remove, injure or interfere with any tree, shrub or plant upon any street, park, pleasure ground, boulevard, alley or public place of the City without prior permission and approval therefor from the Public Works Director. The Public Works Director is hereby authorized to grant such permission in his/her discretion and where necessary, subject to the stated policy of the Council 1 . No such permission shall be valid for a longer period than thirty (30) days after its issuance. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956; 1996 Code)

It shall be a violation of the provisions of this Chapter for any person to abuse, destroy or mutilate any tree, plant or shrub in a public parking strip or any other public place, or to attach or place any rope, wire, (other than one used to support a young or broken tree), sign, poster, handbill or other things to or on any tree growing in a public place, or to cause or permit any wire charged with electricity to be placed or attached to any such tree, or allow any gaseous, liquid or solid substance which are harmful to such trees to come in contact with their roots or leaves. (Ord. 163, 11-5-1956)

A. Removal Of Mistletoe: Every owner of real property within the corporate limits of the City shall keep such real property free and clear of all mistletoe.

B. Notice To Remove: Upon failure of the owner of any real property in the City to remove and destroy mistletoe from said property, such owner shall be notified by the City Clerk's office to remove and destroy the same within a period of fifteen (15) days. If at the end of said period, designated in said notice, said owner has failed to comply with such notice, the Public Works Director shall cause the mistletoe to be removed and destroyed from said property and the expense of said work shall be charged to the owner of said property.

C. Right To Abate: The Public Works Director, his/her assistants and designated employees of the City or a private contractor employed for the purpose, may enter upon private property to perform the duties of eradication of mistletoe imposed by subsection A of this Section.

D. Collection: Upon completion of the work of removal and destruction of mistletoe, the City Clerk shall notify the owner of said real property in writing of the expense of such work and request payment therefor within sixty (60) days of the date of the notice. If such owner fails or refuses to pay to the City the amount of such expense within said period of sixty (60) days from the date of such notice, the amount shall become a charge against the real property involved and shall be in the nature of a special assessment collectable by the City, if necessary, through small claims courts or judicial district court action. (Ord. 300, 1-21-1974; 1996 Code)

E. Owner/City Agreements: Any owner of property within the City and the City may enter into an agreement in writing for the removal and destruction of mistletoe for a predetermined amount. In the event that such property owner, after entering into such an agreement and after the performance thereof by the City, refuses to pay for said work as provided in the agreement, then the amount promised to be paid shall be collectable in the same manner as that provided in subsection D of this Section. (Ord. 300, 1-21-1974)