You need a permit in LA to trim trees?
Insane.
I was wondering about that, but from the picture these may be trees on public land.
The “argument” is that the trees are not on Universal property. They are on city owned land, so any modifications or trimming must be done by the city, or have the permission of the city.
There was a tiny lot near downtown Tallahassee. It could not be developed because it had two “heritage oaks” situated in the only entrance and exit locations that were possible given the size of the lot and where the building had to be and permissible legal locations. The construction proceeded and the contractor went to insane lengths to ensure the trees and their roots were not disturbed. Doing so would have immediately resulted in protests and pickets from Tallahassee’s tree nuts. (Tree nuts are humans, not a fruit that grows on trees.) The lot was paved up to a few feet from the barricades set up to protect the trees. Then, a week before the building was to open, and over a Sunday, the trees were removed and the stumps ground down. The lots were paved to the street and not a bit of sawdust remained. Seriously, they vacuumed the area. The tree nuts went crazy. The city fined the builder. But there’s a bank there now. I’m sure the fine was built into the cost of the construction.
The thing is the contractor avoided having to deal with people blocking every piece of machinery that had to go in and out. It was brilliant. BTW, the trees, although huge, were not very attractive and probably not even very healthy. Their roots had been popping up pavement for at least a few decades and they’d been repaved over several times.
You need a permit to trim city-owned trees, yes.
The sole exception is if the trees are intruding over your property line. Then, you may trim to your property line.