Cedar Park, Texas · Williamson County
Tree removal in Cedar Park
Named, accurately, for the cedar brakes that covered it.
In Cedar Park, a tree of about 19 inches in diameter or more is where the city gets involved. Below that you are generally clear to take it down.
About 45 minutes from me in Kyle. Whatever the answer turns out to be, it is a form and a measurement rather than a refusal — these get approved all the time. Call me and I’ll tell you where you stand.
What Cedar Park actually regulates
Ashe juniper is still the story here. Thinning cedar off the oaks it's crowding is the highest-return work in Cedar Park, and if the stand is close to the house it's a meaningful allergy reduction come December and January.
19 inches in diameter and up
Permit needed
Over 19 inches — permit needed, and heritage trees at any size.
Cedar Park requires a permit for protected trees over 19 inches, and for any heritage tree regardless of size. Trees near creeks or inside flood zones also need approval, which matters along Brushy Creek.
Under the threshold
Below 19 inches — but check the front setback rule.
One Cedar Park quirk worth knowing: vigorous hardwood trees of 4-inch caliper or larger standing within the 25-foot front setback must be retained and protected as a landscape buffer. That's a much smaller tree than the general threshold, and it applies to the part of the yard people most want to clear.
The ordinance, in its own words
All vigorous, existing 4-inch caliper or larger hardwood trees that stand within the 25' front setback area shall be retained and protected as a landscape buffer. Caliper of the trunk shall be taken 4.5 feet above the ground for existing trees.
Source: City of Cedar Park — Article 14.07: Tree & Landscape Requirements. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Cedar Park code attaches
- What the ordinance covers
- Article 14.07 (formerly Chapter 15). Creek proximity and flood zones trigger additional approval.
- How it's measured
- For existing trees, caliper is measured 4.5 feet above the ground. Nursery stock is measured at 6 inches for up to 4-inch caliper and 12 inches above ground for larger.
- Who to call
- City of Cedar Park Planning Department
- What I couldn't verify
- The 19-inch figure comes from a secondary source rather than the code text — ecode360 blocked me. The 4-inch front-setback rule and the measurement heights are from the ordinance itself. Confirm the 19 inches with the city.
Check your own tree against Cedar Park’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Cedar Park, put the trunk measurement in, and it will show you exactly which band you are in and what the code says about it.
How a removal actually goes in Cedar Park
Suburban lots with some rocky plateau acreage on the edges. Reasonable access throughout. Forty-five minutes from Kyle. Cedar Park sits right against the Balcones escarpment, so the west side of town is rock close to the surface and the east side has more soil over it. That matters for stump grinding more than anything else: on the west side the wheel finds limestone sooner than you'd budget for. Suburban and easy on most jobs. Where it slows down is the older lots against the greenbelt where the ground falls away and there's nowhere to put wood down.
Everything gets hauled away and the ground raked off behind us. Want the logs kept for firewood? Say so before we start and my crew will cut them to length and stack them rather than running them through the chipper.
The trees I get called about here
Ashe juniper is still the story, exactly as the name says, with live oak and Texas red oak competing against it. Thinning cedar off the oaks it's crowding is the highest-return work here, and if the stand is close to the house it's a meaningful allergy reduction come December and January. Ashe juniper is the whole story, and the useful version of the job here isn't clearing it for the sake of it — it's taking it off the live oaks it has been outcompeting for water for twenty years. A juniper stand packed against an oak takes the shallow moisture first. Thin the juniper and those oaks respond faster than people expect. Cedar Park is named for what grew here — the Ashe juniper brakes along the limestone shelf — and most of that was cleared for the town. What's left in yards is live oak and planted shade trees sitting on very little soil over rock, plus juniper on the undeveloped edges. The specific thing about this ground is karst: the limestone under Cedar Park and the Buttercup Creek area is cave country, riddled with fissures and voids. Practically that means roots follow seams rather than spreading evenly, so two identical-looking trees twenty feet apart can be in completely different water situations, and it means a stump grinder's depth is set by whatever it hits first.
Before you decide to remove it
A mature live oak took fifty years to reach that size and I can take it down in a morning. Neither of us can put it back. So the first thing I want to know is whether it actually needs to go — a tree that looks finished is quite often a tree that needs the deadwood out of it and nothing more. Here’s how to tell the difference, and here’s the risk check if you want to work it through yourself.
If it does need to come out, the permit side is the easy part. The rules for every town I’ve read are here, and here’s everything else I do in Cedar Park.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Cedar Park?
It depends on the trunk size. All vigorous, existing 4-inch caliper or larger hardwood trees that stand within the 25' front setback area shall be retained and protected as a landscape buffer. Caliper of the trunk shall be taken 4.5 feet above the ground for existing tr… That is City of Cedar Park — Article 14.07: Tree & Landscape Requirements, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Cedar Park's rules?
Put a tape around the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground to get the circumference, then divide by 3.14 for the diameter. Cedar Park writes its rule in inches in diameter. If the trunk splits into several stems below 4.5 feet, measure below the split — that usually puts you in a higher bracket than you expected.
What if the tree is dead or dangerous?
Most ordinances around here treat a dead, diseased or genuinely hazardous tree differently from a healthy one somebody would simply rather not have, and a written assessment from a Certified Arborist is usually what the city wants to see. There is one on my crew. Get the condition documented before you file anything, not after.
How much does tree removal cost in Cedar Park?
Access is the biggest driver, ahead of size — whether there is a drop zone or whether every piece has to be roped out over a roof is the difference between a morning and a full day. Then trunk diameter, then lean and deadwood. Send me a photo and the circumference and I can usually price it from that.
Got a tree in Cedar Park you’re not sure about?
Text me a photo and the measurement round the trunk. I’ll tell you which side of the line it’s on and what it takes to get it done.
Same-day callback on estimates
Call or text before 5pm on a weekday and you'll hear back from me the same day. Not an answering service — me.