Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 28-64 Penalty

This article may be known and referred to as the "Street Tree Regulations of Santa Barbara County."

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

The purpose of this article is to regulate and control all street trees along county roads in order to protect and preserve the existence thereof and thereby protect the public welfare.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

For the purpose of this article, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivation shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future; words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number.

Authorized Agent. An employee of the county department of transportation designated by the director of transportation.

Contracted Agent. Any person, company or corporation hired or under contract for the purpose of performing designated work.

County. The County of Santa Barbara in the State of California.

Director of Transportation. The director of transportation or the assistant director of transportation for the county.

Maintenance or Maintain. Pruning, planting, spraying, watering and staking, and similar acts necessary to promote health, growth and beauty to trees.

Road Right-of-Way. That area of land on which the road is built and that land on each side of the road for the specified distance covered by county road easements or by county owned land acquired for road purposes and within the county maintained road system.

Street Tree. Any perennial plant with a woody trunk, branches and leaves growing in any road right-of-way as defined herein.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

In addition to the regulations contained in this article of this chapter, the board of supervisors may, from time to time, by resolution, adopt additional regulations establishing fees for permits hereunder, regulating planting and care of street trees, and otherwise providing for protection and perpetuation of street trees, which shall have the full force and effect of law.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

No person shall place, or cause to be placed, any stone, cement or other substance about any tree planted along any road, or on other county owned property, which shall impede the free entrance of water or air to the roots of such tree, without leaving an open space of ground around the trunk of such tree of not less than sixteen square feet.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

Replacement trees shall be planted by department of transportation personnel or a contracted agent during the proper season of each year. No trees shall be planted by any other persons except with the prior written approval of the director of transportation or an authorized agent. Replacement trees shall be of the same variety and size where applicable. If a variety change is requested, such request must be in written form and submitted to the director of transportation or an authorized agent.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

Trees located within the road right-of-way or in any publicly owned property shall not be removed, cut down, mutilated or otherwise injured, except upon the approval of the county road commissioner or director of parks, or, except further, to the extent reasonably necessary to accommodate the placement or maintenance of public utility facilities.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1; Ord. No. 3703, § 1)

No person shall place or cause to be placed any chemical, material, or object or substance deleterious to trees in a location where it will kill, injure or otherwise harm any tree within a road right-of-way or in any publicly owned property, nor so that it will impede the free access of water and air to such trees, including necessary parts of the root system without the approval of the county road commissioner or director of parks.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1; Ord. No. 3703, § 2)

Special written permits may be issued by the county department of transportation to remove or cut down trees within the road right-of-way, in appropriate cases, including, but not limited to, dead, dying or diseased trees and trees that are, or are likely to become, hazards to vehicular or pedestrian travel on public roads. Such permits may contain reasonable conditions, including but not limited to, provisions for replacement of such removed or cut down trees, with other trees, initial maintenance of such replacement trees, protection of the traveling public and the road improvements, reasonable time limits, and a fee to be paid to the county department of transportation to defray the cost of any necessary inspections.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

Any person who by any means willfully or maliciously digs up, cuts down, destroys or otherwise injures any street tree as defined herein, or who violates any of the provisions of this article, or who violates any regulations adopted pursuant to section 25-28 of this Code, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable as provided in section 1-7 of this Code.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)

Section 24-6 and article IV of chapter 26 (sections 26-102 to 26-104, inclusive) of this Code are hereby repealed.

(Ord. No. 2624, § 1)