Gutter cleaning Mountain View

Mountain View gutters, heritage oaks and the twice-monthly sweeper

Mountain View's tree rules reach a gutter job early. Any oak, redwood or cedar with a trunk 12 inches around at chest height is a heritage tree the owner must keep healthy, and the street tree out front, though it belongs to the owner, may not be trimmed without the city's written permission. Roof leaves go in the weekly compost cart, because the sweeper leaves curb piles behind and storm drains carry water to the creeks and Bay untreated.

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  • Rules on this page checked against 9 public sources, October 2026
Mountain View City Hall
Mountain View City Hall. Photo: Aleh Haiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Heritage oak threshold
12-inch trunk circumference, measured 54 inches above grade
Street trees
Owned by the property owner, pruned by the city on a 5-7 year cycle
Sweeper leaf limit
Under 3 inches deep and 3 feet wide, away from the curb
Flood hazard areas
About 12 percent of the city, from Bay tides and Permanente Creek

Permits and local rules

Mountain View's tree, street and drain rules, in brief

  1. A street tree you own but may not trim

    Mountain View's Tree Technical Manual sets out an arrangement worth knowing before anyone climbs: a street tree, whether in the park strip or about 5 feet behind the sidewalk, belongs to the property owner, who waters it and repairs root damage on private land. Yet Chapter 32, Article I of the City Code forbids anyone to cut, trim or prune a street tree without the city's prior written permission. The city prunes street trees itself, aiming for a five-to-seven-year cycle with critical trees first, and evaluates a tree on request.

    Source: City of Mountain View, Tree Technical Manual (mountainview.gov)

  2. Heritage trees: oaks, redwoods and cedars at 12 inches

    The city treats as a heritage tree any oak, redwood or cedar with a trunk circumference of 12 inches or more at 54 inches above natural grade, and any other tree at 48 inches. Removing one takes a permit from the Planning Division or Urban Forestry, and whoever owns or controls the property must keep heritage trees in good health. If a contractor removes a tree that had no permit, the city can seek penalty fees from the company, the owner or both. In an HOA, a removal application needs the board's written authorization.

    Source: City of Mountain View Development Permits (developmentpermits.mountainview.gov)

  3. Storm drains run straight to the creeks

    The Fire Department's Environmental Safety Section runs Mountain View's water pollution control programs, and it describes two separate paths to the Bay. Wastewater from homes goes to the treatment plant in Palo Alto. Rain that enters a storm drain on a street, a parking lot or private property flows directly to creeks and the Bay without treatment, so anything spilled or poured there is flushed along with it. Leaf sludge rinsed out of a downspout and down a driveway takes that second path.

    Source: City of Mountain View Fire Department (mountainview.gov)

  4. What the street sweeper will take

    Public Works sweeps each neighborhood twice a month and asks owners to put leaves from their property in the compost cart. Sweepers can pick up leaves in the roadway only if they lie away from the curb and are less than 3 inches deep and 3 feet wide, and leaves left in piles in the roadway are not collected except in the city's special sweeping zones. Cars have to be off the street before 6 a.m. on sweep day, and branches, rocks and basketball hoops out of it.

    Source: City of Mountain View Public Works (mountainview.gov)

State license for this work: C-43 Sheet Metal, C-39 Roofing, D-49 Tree Service. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

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Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

Metal roof gutter running along the bottom of a slate roof, with a downspout outlet dropping into a round drainpipe
Metal roof gutter running along the bottom of a slate roof, with a downspout outlet dropping into a round drainpipe. Photo: Le plombier du désert, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Townhouses, apartments and the 1950s tracts beside them

Detached houses are the minority here. California Department of Finance figures compiled by the nonprofit Silicon Valley at Home put them at about 27 percent of Mountain View's homes in 2024, with about 13 percent attached single-family homes such as townhouses, nearly half in buildings of five or more units, and about 2.5 percent mobile homes. The detached share is largely 1950s and 1960s tracts: ranch houses in Blossom Valley, built on former orchard land, and the mid-century moderns of Monta Loma by Joseph Eichler, John Calder Mackay and the Mardell Building Company. In a townhouse or condo complex the roof is often common area, so the association's CC&Rs decide who clears the gutters and when.

The work

Four Mountain View clean-outs and where their leaves end up

  1. Leaves for the weekly compost cart

    Mountain View's green compost cart, once called the yard trimmings cart, now takes food scraps too and is collected weekly in 64- or 96-gallon sizes. The city warns owners thinking of a smaller cart that fall leaves can fill it, and asks anyone who needs more room to move up to the 96-gallon cart before adding containers. On a heavy week, up to two extra containers of yard trimmings can go out beside it, in large paper lawn and leaf bags or plastic cans, never in plastic bags.

  2. Townhouses, condos and park homes

    For rowhouses, townhomes, condos and mobile homes the city offers a 24-gallon compost cart, a quarter the size of the largest one. Clearing the gutters along a row of townhouse roofs can produce more than that in one visit, so the leaves either wait for later collection weeks, go out in up to two extra paper leaf bags, or leave in the cleaner's truck. Where an association owns the roofs, its manager usually books the clean-out, and the CC&Rs say who pays for it.

  3. Gutters under a heritage oak

    Because the oak threshold is a 12-inch trunk circumference, about the girth of a slender young tree, many oaks hanging over Mountain View roofs are heritage trees. The City Code makes the owner responsible for keeping them in good health and bars willfully injuring one, and the city's Tree Technical Manual calls removing a fourth or more of the functioning leaf, stem or root area excessive pruning, a prohibited act. Clearing the gutter underneath is ordinary work; cutting back the limbs above it is a question for an arborist first.

  4. Getting ahead of the winter storms

    About 12 percent of Mountain View lies in special flood hazard areas, flooded by tides from the Bay and by Permanente Creek, and the city's winter storm advice includes a line on leaves: remove them to prevent street flooding and clogged storm drains, and put the ones that fall on your property in the compost cart. Clearing the gutters and downspouts before the first big storm is the roof-level share of that work, so rain leaves the roof through the downspouts instead of spilling over at the foundation.

Before you hire

What to ask a Mountain View gutter crew

  • Ask where the leaves go: your compost cart, up to two paper leaf bags beside it, or their truck, never a pile in the street.
  • If an oak hangs over the roof, ask whether it counts as a heritage tree before any limb is cut, and leave heavy pruning to an arborist.
  • Ask them not to trim the street tree out front; it may be yours, but trimming it needs the city's written permission.
  • Ask that downspout sludge be caught and bagged, since anything rinsed into a storm drain reaches the creeks untreated.
  • In a townhouse or condo, confirm with the association who schedules gutter cleaning before you book anyone.

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

Questions

Mountain View gutter questions with answers from city pages

Who prunes the street tree in front of our Mountain View house?

The city does, although the tree is yours. Street trees belong to the property owner, who handles watering and general care, but the City Code forbids anyone to cut, trim or prune one without the city's prior written permission. Urban Forestry prunes them on a cycle it aims to keep at five to seven years, taking critical trees first, and will evaluate a tree on request.

Is the small oak over our roof a heritage tree?

It may be. An oak, redwood or cedar counts as a heritage tree once its trunk measures 12 inches around at 54 inches above the ground, a size a fairly young tree can reach, so measure it with a tape at chest height. If it qualifies, you must keep it healthy, removing it needs a permit, and the city's tree manual counts cutting a fourth or more of its live canopy as excessive pruning, which is prohibited.

Can we rake gutter leaves into the street for the sweeper?

Not in a pile. Mountain View's sweepers collect leaves in the roadway only when they lie away from the curb in a layer under 3 inches deep and 3 feet wide, and piles are left behind outside the special sweeping zones. The city asks that leaves from your property go in the weekly compost cart, with up to two extra paper leaf bags or plastic cans set beside it.

Does Mountain View still run a special fall leaf collection?

No. The city says the special fall leaf collection is no longer necessary, because compost carts, which take food scraps as well as yard trimmings, are now collected every week. For extra leaves, set out up to two large paper lawn and leaf bags or plastic cans next to the cart; metal cans and plastic bags are not accepted.

Is our house in one of Mountain View's flood areas?

About 12 percent of the city lies in special flood hazard areas, where flooding comes from Bay tides and from Permanente Creek. Public Works will tell you on request whether a property is in or out of the Special Flood Hazard Area and give its flood insurance rate map zone. Either way, the city's storm advice includes clearing fallen leaves so they do not clog storm drains and flood the street.

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

  • mountainview.gov: 637974641051670000 (mountainview.gov)
  • developmentpermits.mountainview.gov: trees (developmentpermits.mountainview.gov)
  • mountainview.gov: environmental protection (mountainview.gov)
  • mountainview.gov: street sweeping schedule (mountainview.gov)
  • mountainview.gov: flood protection (mountainview.gov)
  • mountainview.gov: food scraps composting (mountainview.gov)
  • mountainview.gov: extra curbside services tags (mountainview.gov)
  • siliconvalleyathome.org: mountain view
  • en.wikipedia.org: Mountain View, California

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