San Marcos, Texas · Hays County
Tree removal in San Marcos
Two different towns as far as trees are concerned: the river bottom, and everything up the hill from it.
In San Marcos, 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 15 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 San Marcos actually regulates
Along the San Marcos River you get deep alluvial soil, big pecans and bald cypress with their feet near the water. Climb out of the floodplain and you're on shallow limestone soil with live oak and cedar. Same zip code, completely different root systems, completely different conversation. Cypress in particular gets pruned wrong constantly — they don't want the thinning people give oaks.
19 inches in diameter and up
Permit needed
19 inches or more — a protected tree needing City Arborist review.
San Marcos defines protected trees at 19 inches diameter and greater, and removal needs review from the City Arborist to approve a permit or site plan. Heritage trees get a more extensive evaluation and can require rulings from boards rather than a staff sign-off.
Under the threshold
Below the threshold
Below the 19-inch protected threshold.
San Marcos's protected-tree provisions start at 19 inches diameter. Below that the tree ordinance isn't your obstacle, though an HOA or plat restriction still can be.
The ordinance, in its own words
Trees 19 inches in diameter and greater are defined as protected trees and require specific review from the City Arborist to approve a permit or site plan for removal. Heritage trees require a more extensive evaluation by the City Arborist and may require rulings from boards.
Source: City of San Marcos — 610s Preservation of Trees and Other Vegetation. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the San Marcos code attaches
- Who approves it
- Removal of a protected tree requires City Arborist review to approve a permit or site plan.
- For the largest trees
- Heritage trees require a more extensive evaluation by the City Arborist and may require rulings from boards.
- Where it's written
- Land Development Code, Section 610S — Preservation of Trees and Other Vegetation.
- Who to call
- City of San Marcos — City Arborist, Planning & Development Services
- What I couldn't verify
- I have verified the 19-inch protected threshold but not the heritage-tree size threshold or the species list. Confirm both with the city.
Check your own tree against San Marcos’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick San Marcos, 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 San Marcos
River-adjacent lots often mean carrying brush a long way, because I'm not driving a chipper across a soft bank. The neighborhoods near the university are tight and frequently have parked cars where I'd want the truck. Both add time, and I'd rather tell you that when I quote than after. Fifteen minutes from Kyle, so scheduling is easy. The older central streets mean rigging over fences; the newer subdivisions out on the edges are straightforward drop-and-chip work.
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
Two distinct sets of trees inside one city. In the river bottom it's bald cypress, pecan, sycamore and box elder on deep alluvium. Up the hill it's live oak, ashe juniper and Texas persimmon on shallow limestone. The recurring mistake here is cypress pruned like an oak — thinned out through the interior. Cypress doesn't want that. It wants deadwood removed and otherwise leaving alone. The two-zone thing is the practical fact here. On the river you have cypress and pecan on deep alluvium; a quarter-mile uphill you have live oak and juniper in a few inches over limestone. Watering advice that's right for one is wrong for the other, and that's why generic guidance so often fails in this town.
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 San Marcos.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in San Marcos?
It depends on the trunk size. Trees 19 inches in diameter and greater are defined as protected trees and require specific review from the City Arborist to approve a permit or site plan for removal. Heritage trees require a more extensive evaluation by the City Arborist … That is City of San Marcos — 610s Preservation of Trees and Other Vegetation, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for San Marcos'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. San Marcos 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 San Marcos?
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 San Marcos 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.