Trees in City Right-of-Way?

[Pete]

A friend owns a home in OKC and in front of her house is a huge old tree with a lot of dead limbs.

It is not on the property she owns, rather by the sidewalk which is actually municipally owned.

The tree is in desperate need of trimming before some of the branches crash down on the street and possibly hurt someone.


Isn't the City responsible for maintaining these trees? And if so, who would you contact about having it trimmed?

[Martin]

is this in a historic neighborhood? i thought that most of the time the property owner owns everything to the street and the property around the sidewalk was an easement. is there grass around these trees? who mows the grass? -M

[Pete]

It's in the Putnam Heights area.

At least in that neighborhood, the property line stops well before the sidewalk. She pays gardeners to cut the grass in the area, but of course the city barely maintains landscaping even in the most visible areas.

I know out here in California, I cannot even touch the huge oak tree that is in front of my house and in the city ROW. Huge fines for doing so and I merely call the City to have them trim it, which they usually do quite promptly.


This tree is huge and a real hazard as it hangs over an intersection with stop signs. Just a matter of time before one of the branches comes down and does some serious damage.

[Pete]

Here is the tree:

[ctchandler]

Pete,
When I lived in the city, that was easement and belonged to me with the responsibility to mow, landscape (if I wanted to), plant and maintain trees, bushes et al. With the one caveat of knowing if the city needs to dig or a utility needs to dig, they were not responsible for trees that were damaged/removed to complete their job. I don't know why this particular property would be any different. I would have them call the city and ask about easement responsibility.
C. T.

It is not on the property she owns, rather by the sidewalk which is actually municipally owned.

[MustangGT]

I had friends go thru this in the same general area. The Action Center said it was the property owners responsibility. Now if it was interfering with the electrical wires then OGE would be pretty quick to cut them back.

[ctchandler]

MustangGT,
But only if it's interfering with the wires from their "pole-to-pole" path, not if it's from their pole to your home. I have experience with that. They did help us, but they were being nice since they were trimming between poles and they were very close to my personal line. They actually took one tree down (with our permission, of course).
C. T.

I had friends go thru this in the same general area. The Action Center said it was the property owners responsibility. Now if it was interfering with the electrical wires then OGE would be pretty quick to cut them back.

[Pete]

Thanks for all the input!

Looks like it's down to the homeowner, although I'll call the City and post if they tell me anything different.

[Plutonic Panda]

If the city doesn't do anything about it, I'd say just cut the thing down.

[MustangGT]

As big as it is if you do decide to chop it yourself I advise getting a tree service professional to do it. If you do it yourself and cause damage the remediation/fix it cost would be on your back.