Cibolo, Texas · Guadalupe County
Tree removal in Cibolo
Named for the creek, which is named for the buffalo that used it.
No permit needed on two acres or less used as your home.
About 48 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 Cibolo actually regulates
Cibolo Creek's corridor carries bigger bottomland hardwoods than the surrounding neighborhoods suggest. If your lot backs onto the creek you likely have more tree — and more risk — than your neighbors do.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
No permit needed on two acres or less used as your home.
Cibolo's protected and heritage tree rules — permits for 8-to-20-inch Protected and 20-to-24-inch Heritage trees of listed species like live oak, cedar elm, pecan and bald cypress — carry a blanket homeowner exemption: the owner of a residence of two acres or less, used as a homestead, is exempt from the tree protection and replacement requirements entirely. For almost everyone calling about their own yard, that's the end of it. The permit process only reaches larger residential lots, non-homestead property, and commercial or subdivision work.
The ordinance, in its own words
The owner of a residence of two acres or less who uses the residence as a homestead shall be exempt from the tree protection and replacement requirements of this ordinance as it pertains to that residential property.
Source: City of Cibolo — Unified Development Code § 17.2, Protected Tree and Heritage Tree Preservation (2023 update). This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Cibolo code attaches
- If it's part of building or development
- Where the exemption doesn't apply — larger lots, non-homestead property, subdivisions or commercial work — a permit is required to remove, encroach on the critical root zone of, or remove more than 30% of the canopy of a Protected Tree (8–19.99" DBH) or Heritage Tree (20"+ DBH) on the listed species table.
- How it's measured
- DBH. Protected Tree 8 to 19.99 inches, Heritage Tree 20 inches and up, on a listed species table (live oak, cedar elm, pecan, bald cypress, Shumard red oak, bur oak, Texas persimmon, Texas mountain laurel and others).
- What's exempt
- The owner of a residence of two acres or less, used as a homestead, is exempt from the tree protection and replacement requirements entirely — whatever the tree's size or species.
- Where it's written
- Unified Development Code § 17.2, Protected Tree and Heritage Tree Preservation.
- Who to call
- City of Cibolo
Check your own tree against Cibolo’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Cibolo, 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 Cibolo
Suburban and easy except on the creek lots, where the bank and the soft ground limit equipment. Forty-eight minutes out. Forty-eight minutes out. Creek-side lots often mean carrying wood uphill from the back, which is the thing that moves a Cibolo quote more than the tree does.
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
The Cibolo Creek corridor carries bigger bottomland hardwoods than the surrounding subdivisions suggest — pecan, hackberry, sycamore. Away from the creek it's younger planted suburban stock on prairie clay. The creek corridor is what makes Cibolo different from the subdivisions around it. Along the water you get genuinely large bottomland hardwoods, and lots backing onto it carry more tree — and more risk — than the neighbours realize. Away from the creek it's young planted stock like the rest of the corridor.
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 Cibolo.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Cibolo?
It depends on the trunk size. The owner of a residence of two acres or less who uses the residence as a homestead shall be exempt from the tree protection and replacement requirements of this ordinance as it pertains to that residential property. That is City of Cibolo — Unified Development Code § 17.2, Protected Tree and Heritage Tree Preservation (2023 update), and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Cibolo'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. Cibolo 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 Cibolo?
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 Cibolo 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.