Do you need a permit to remove a tree?

How to measure your tree, since every rule depends on it

Every ordinance below is written in either diameter or caliper inches measured at 4.5 feet above the ground — foresters call it DBH, diameter at breast height. Get a tape around the trunk at that height to get the circumference, then divide by 3.14. A trunk that measures 60 inches around is about 19 inches in diameter, which is exactly the line where Austin starts regulating.

If the tree splits into multiple stems below 4.5 feet, measure below the split. That usually puts you in a higher bracket than you expected, so it's worth doing before you assume you're under a threshold.

What I've verified, city by city

These are the four I've read and can stand behind. I'm a tree climber, not a permit office — use this to know what you're walking into, then confirm with the city before anything comes down.

Kyle

Kyle's Chapter 54 calls any tree 25 caliper inches or bigger a "specimen tree." Those are meant to be preserved, and taking one down means asking the Planning and Zoning Commission first. If it comes out, it gets replaced two-to-one, inch for inch.

Source: City of Kyle, Chapter 54 — Landscaping and Screening Requirements. Rules change — check before you act.

Buda

In Buda, anything from 8 to 20 caliper inches is a "Protected Tree" and needs a removal permit from the Director of Planning. Heritage Trees are a bigger deal — those take a City Council public hearing, and the Council has to find there's genuinely no other way to develop the site. Whatever comes out gets mitigated on the same property.

Source: City of Buda UDC — Tree Preservation and Mitigation. Rules change — check before you act.

Dripping Springs

Dripping Springs requires mitigation for Heritage trees removed for development, and the development review committee sets the diameter inches. Here's the part worth knowing: a tree that a Certified Arborist documents as dead, diseased, or an imminent hazard is left out of the preservation math entirely.

Source: City of Dripping Springs — Landscape and Tree Preservation Ordinance. Rules change — check before you act.

Sunset Valley

Sunset Valley is the strictest city I work in, and it isn't close. A "Protected Tree" there starts at just 10 inches in diameter measured 4.5 feet up — roughly half Austin's threshold, and only 5 inches for small species like Texas persimmon, mountain laurel, Eve's necklace, silk tassel and bigtooth maple. At 24 inches, all oaks, pecan, cedar and American elm, bald cypress, Texas ash, the walnuts, honey mesquite and single- or double-trunk Ashe juniper become Heritage trees. And there's a third tier almost nobody knows about: at 30 inches a heritage-list tree becomes an Ancestral tree. Removing any of the three without a permit is unlawful, and so is damaging one — the code names topping, over-pruning, chemical poisoning, and disturbing more than 50% of the critical root zone. Chinaberry, Chinese tallow, ligustrum, tree of heaven and Callery pear are excluded at any size.

Source: City of Sunset Valley, Code of Ordinances 150.771-150.772 — Tree and Natural Area Protection. Rules change — check before you act.

Austin

Austin regulates by trunk diameter measured 4.5 feet off the ground. Under 19 inches on residential property, the city doesn't regulate it — that's the sentence most homeowners never get told. At 19 inches and up, any species is a Protected tree and needs a permit to remove. At 24 inches and up, oaks, pecan, American and cedar elm, bald cypress, Texas ash, Texas madrone, bigtooth maple and Arizona or eastern black walnut become Heritage trees, and removing one is prohibited except under section 25-8-641. Removals that aren't tied to construction go through a Tree Ordinance Review Application, and there's a separate track for dead, diseased and imminent-hazard trees.

Source: City of Austin — Tree Reviews and Permitting. Rules change — check before you act.

The towns I haven't verified yet

I work in a lot of places, and I'm not going to summarize an ordinance I haven't read. For these, call your city's planning or development services department and ask two questions: what diameter triggers a permit, and is there a protected species list. That's a five-minute phone call and it's free.

Bastrop, Bear Creek, Bee Cave, Blanco, Bulverde, Canyon Lake, Cedar Creek, Cedar Park, Cibolo, Creedmoor, Dale, Del Valle, Driftwood, Elgin, Garden Ridge, Georgetown, Hutto, Johnson City, Lakeway, Leander, Lockhart, Luling, Manchaca, Manor, Marion, Martindale, Maxwell, Mountain City, Mustang Ridge, New Braunfels, Niederwald, Pflugerville, Rollingwood, Round Rock, San Marcos, Schertz, Seguin, Smithville, Spring Branch, Staples, Uhland, West Lake Hills, Wimberley, Woodcreek.

The exception that matters most

Most of these ordinances treat a dead, diseased or genuinely hazardous tree differently from a healthy one you'd simply rather not have. Dripping Springs is explicit about it: a tree that a Certified Arborist documents as dead, diseased or an imminent hazard is left out of the preservation requirements. Austin runs a separate track for dead, diseased and imminent-hazard trees too.

That's why the written assessment matters. If your tree is genuinely failing, the documentation is what turns a mitigation problem into a straightforward removal. There's an ISA Certified Arborist on my crew, and that's the kind of thing worth getting in writing before you file anything.

What happens if you skip it

I'm not going to quote fine amounts, because they vary by city and by circumstance and I haven't verified them. What I'll say is that these are real ordinances with real enforcement, that mitigation is usually calculated in replacement inches rather than a flat fee, and that it's assessed after the tree is already gone — when you have no leverage at all.

Ten minutes on the phone with your city beforehand is the cheapest insurance in this entire trade.

Questions I get asked