Real Estate Insights

July 2025

A quick 5 minute read

Trending Topic:

Trees, Permits and the Planning Department

Maybe the cause is rooted (pun intended!) in the recent fires and related insurance company reactions, but one topic we are getting more calls on recently is large trees and how to deal with them.

To be clear, we love trees. When appropriately located, they can help moderate temperatures during the summer, allow more light during the winter, provide food, and increase property values. Heck, the huge Chinese elm in our backyard, framed by our living room windows, was one of the real attractions of our current home.

However, sometimes trees, especially large ones, can be problematic. Maybe what started out as a small tree has grown and is now encroaching on your home, presenting a fire danger and/or potentially leading to health and safety issues. Or maybe, a tree is causing your driveway or sidewalk to heave. When faced with large tree issues how should you proceed? As with many homeowner decisions, the answer is nuanced.

When evaluating your tree options, one of your first tasks is to look up the tree restrictions in your city or county, depending on your jurisdiction. In most locales, trees beyond a certain size require a permit for removal - and some species of trees (e.g. oaks and redwoods) receive special consideration. If your tree is small enough, then no permit is required. In many cases, a quick email or call to your local planning department is enough to clarify your situation and what conditions will be attached to the removal of your tree(s).

For example, we recently removed 2 medium-sized oaks (protected trees large enough to require a permit to remove) whose canopies were encroaching on ours and our neighbor's homes. Armed with a report justifying their removal for fire safety compliance reasons (a current hot button topic) and stating that trimming them back sufficiently to mitigate the fire issue would likely kill the trees, we were granted a permit to remove them - with one condition. We had to plant 1 replacement tree somewhere on our property.

While many homeowners try to avoid their respective planning and building departments, we have repeatedly found that they are generally helpful and willing to work with us to resolve our issues (remember we are also coming off of a home addition...a topic for another newsletter). In this case, we had a dialog with one of the county arborists about the replacement tree and its location. While he would have preferred that we plant one of the select California natives from their replacement tree list, after reviewing a satellite view of our lot he agreed that a more appropriate choice was the smaller, more decorative tree that we chose from their extended list of replacement options. All he wants is a picture of the planted tree once it is in the ground; no additional site visits needed to sign off on the permit. A very reasonable and practical solution in our opinion.

Oh, and what happens if you remove a significant tree without a permit when one is required? If caught, the fine can run into the thousands of dollars per tree!

If you are facing similar issues or have concerns about how to proceed with a project, we are happy to provide our insights and advice. While we may not have all the answers, we do have a solid knowledge base to draw upon and an even bigger pool of office knowledge to leverage on your behalf. Just give us a call!

Local Market Trends

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San Mateo County Real Estate Report

Santa Clara County Real Estate Report

Links not working? Email jbarman@compass.com and I will send you a PDF of the same info.

Want to see the data for a specific city? Let us know and we will gladly forward that along!

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Janie and John Barman

DRE #01270223 & #01281597

REALTORS®

M: 650.759.1182

jbarman@compass.com

JanieandJohn.co