Lakeway, Texas · Travis County
Tree removal in Lakeway
Lake Travis shoreline: wind off open water, on thin soil.
In Lakeway, a tree of about 12 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 Lakeway actually regulates
That combination is why Lakeway loses whole trees rather than limbs. A shallow-rooted live oak on a rock shelf with miles of open water to windward is a different risk from the same tree in Kyle. Thinning the crown so wind moves through it instead of pushing against it is the useful work here.
24 inches in diameter and up
Permit needed
Heritage Tree — a permit is required, and it's a real process, not a dead end.
Lakeway classes a tree as a Heritage Tree at 24 inches or more within a setback or buffer area, or 36 inches or more anywhere in the city. A permit is required, but there's a hazard track: the City Forester (an ISA Certified Arborist on staff) can clear a dead or hazardous tree for removal without the mitigation fee.
12 inches in diameter and up
Permit needed
Protected Tree, 12 inches or more — a permit is required.
Lakeway classes any hardwood 12 inches or larger as a Protected Tree. One real exception: if you already owned your single-family home before the ordinance passed in December 2022, and you're not subdividing or building, routine removal of a non-heritage tree on that lot doesn't need a permit. Worth confirming with the city if that's your situation — it can skip the whole process.
Under the threshold
Below the threshold
Under 12 inches, below Lakeway's Protected threshold.
Lakeway's tree protection ordinance keys on 12 inches diameter at breast height. Below that it isn't your obstacle.
The ordinance, in its own words
No person shall remove, or cause to be removed, any Protected Tree without first obtaining a tree removal permit... A Heritage Tree is a tree measuring twenty-four (24) inches DBH or greater located within a setback or buffer area, or thirty-six (36) inches DBH or greater located anywhere within the city.
Source: City of Lakeway — Ordinance 2022-12-19-02, Tree Protection (City Code § 28.09.020). This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Lakeway code attaches
- What the ordinance covers
- City Code § 28.09.020, Tree Protection, adopted by Ordinance 2022-12-19-02.
- How it's measured
- Diameter at breast height (DBH), 4.5 feet above grade.
- Replanting / mitigation owed
- Replacement inches owed scale with size: roughly 1-for-1 in the 8–14 inch band, 2-for-1 from 14–24 inches, 3-for-1 at 24 inches and up.
- Fees
- Fee-in-lieu of planting, paid to the city's Tree Fund: $150/inch (8–14"), $300/inch (14–24"), $450/inch (24"+) for commercial or development removals; a flat $100/inch for existing single-family residential.
- If you skip the permit
- Removing a Protected Tree without a permit is a $75-per-inch fine plus the mitigation owed. Double that for a Heritage Tree.
- What's exempt
- Dead trees, public-safety hazards, and storm or utility-disruption removals can clear with code official or City Forester sign-off, no mitigation owed. Agricultural and nursery land is exempt outright. An existing single-family lot owned before the December 2022 ordinance, not being subdivided or built on, is exempt for non-heritage trees.
- Who to call
- City of Lakeway Code Official, with the City Forester (ISA Certified Arborist) confirming hazard and heritage findings
Check your own tree against Lakeway’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Lakeway, 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 Lakeway
Hilly, sometimes steep, with some lakeside lots where equipment access is genuinely poor. Forty-five minutes from Kyle, so give me notice unless it's urgent. Hillside lots, long private drives and tight turns, forty-five minutes out. Access is the constraint on nearly every Lakeway job — if the chipper can't get up the drive, everything gets carried, and that's what the price is really measuring.
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
Live oak and ashe juniper on thin soil over rock, with open water to windward. That combination is why Lakeway loses whole trees rather than limbs — there isn't enough root plate to anchor against sustained wind off the lake. Shallow-rooted live oak on a limestone shelf with miles of open water to windward, which is why Lakeway loses whole trees where other towns lose limbs. Thinning a crown so wind moves through it rather than pushing against it is the genuinely useful work here, and it's a different objective from the tidy-up thinning people usually ask for.
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 Lakeway.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Lakeway?
It depends on the trunk size. No person shall remove, or cause to be removed, any Protected Tree without first obtaining a tree removal permit... A Heritage Tree is a tree measuring twenty-four (24) inches DBH or greater located within a setback or buffer area, or thirt… That is City of Lakeway — Ordinance 2022-12-19-02, Tree Protection (City Code § 28.09.020), and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Lakeway'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. Lakeway 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 Lakeway?
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 Lakeway 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.