Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
No. Ankeny has a chapter called Trees, and it does require a permit, but read what the permit is for: Section 166.02 says "It is unlawful for any person to commence or proceed with the planting of any tree within the parking, without first obtaining a permit therefor." Planting, not removal. And "parking" is not a parking lot - Section 166.01 defines it as the strip of public right-of-way between your lot line and the curb. So the one permit in Ankeny's tree chapter covers putting a tree into the city strip out front, and nothing in the chapter requires a permit to take a tree down, in your yard or anywhere else. There is no landscaping or tree preservation chapter elsewhere in the code either. What you do owe is trimming: branches must clear the street or alley by fifteen feet and the sidewalk by eight.
Size threshold
None. Ankeny sets no diameter, height or species threshold anywhere in Chapter 166, because it does not regulate removal at all.
What's protected in Ankeny
- Trees in the "parking" - the public right-of-way strip between the lot line and the curb, or on streets without curbs between the lot line and the travelled portion. Planting there needs a permit; the city may also remove trees there itself.
- Dead, diseased or dying trees in the public right-of-way, which the Public Works Director may inspect and remove, and trees in the parking "which interfere with the making of improvements or with travel thereon" (Section 166.08).
How to apply in Ankeny
- 1
To remove a tree there is no application. Ankeny does not require a removal permit.
- 2
To plant a tree in the parking strip between your lot line and the curb, get a permit first from Public Works at 515-965-6400. Chapter 166 requires an application, plans, specifications and an inspection.
- 3
If a right-of-way tree is dead or dying, report it rather than cutting it - Section 166.08 gives the Public Works Director the power to inspect and have the city remove it.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No fee to remove a tree, because no removal permit exists. Chapter 166 does not state a fee for the planting permit either.
- Penalties
- Chapter 166 sets no penalty of its own for the trimming duty. Instead Section 166.07 provides that if the abutting owner fails to trim, "the City shall follow the Nuisance Abatement Procedures (see Chapter 50)," which run through notice, abatement by the city, and municipal infraction proceedings with the cost assessed against the property.
- Ordinance
- Ankeny Code of Ordinances ch. 166 - Trees, Sections 166.01 to 166.08, derived from Ord. 1973 (August 19 supplement). Sections 166.07 and 166.08 are enacted under Code of Iowa Sec. 364.12. The code as published is current to June 2026.
Worth knowing
- The word "parking" in this chapter means the grass strip, not a parking lot or space. It is the single most confusing term in Ankeny's code for a homeowner reading it cold.
- The trimming duty is the one that actually catches people: fifteen feet of clearance above a street or alley and eight feet above a sidewalk, enforced through nuisance abatement rather than a fine.
- Ankeny has no landscaping chapter and no tree preservation ordinance. The full table of contents was searched for landscaping, preservation and screening; the only screening provisions are for outdoor storage areas in the zoning chapters, which do not regulate existing trees.
- Chapter 167 covers noxious weeds and vegetation height, not trees, and Section 118.06 covers tree trimming by utility franchisees rather than by owners.
What we could not confirm
We would rather tell you what we don't know than guess. Call the office below to confirm these before you cut.
- — The fee for the right-of-way tree planting permit. Chapter 166 requires the permit but states no amount, and no city fee schedule was located.
- — Whether Ankeny's subdivision or site plan review imposes tree planting or retention requirements on new development. No landscaping chapter exists in the code of ordinances, but subdivision design standards were not read in full.
- — The street address of the Public Works Department. The city page gives the city and ZIP but the street line was not retrievable.