Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
It comes down to your lot size. Arlington's Unified Development Code says that no tree removal permit and no mitigation are required to remove trees on a parcel, tract or lot under one acre with an occupied residential structure on it — which covers the great majority of Arlington homes. If your lot is one acre or larger, or has no occupied residential structure, a Tree Removal Permit is required and you will owe mitigation for trees six caliper inches or larger, or Cross Timbers oaks three caliper inches or larger. Separately, any tree removal that is part of development work is handled through a Preservation Plan rather than this permit.
Size threshold
A "protected tree" is any existing tree of at least six caliper inches that is not on the prohibited plant list in the UDC User's Guide. Where a permit is required, mitigation is owed on trees six caliper inches or greater and on Cross Timbers oaks three caliper inches or greater. The UDC states these in caliper inches without naming a measuring height in Section 5.2.3; the city's Tree Removal Permit Application says to measure 4.5 feet above grade. For a multi-trunk tree, the caliper is the full caliper of the largest trunk plus half the caliper of each other trunk.
What's protected in Arlington
- Protected trees — any existing tree of at least six caliper inches not listed as a prohibited tree on the UDC User's Guide
- Cross Timbers oaks, which the UDC defines as post oaks, Texas oaks and blackjack oaks. These carry extra preservation weight and a lower three-caliper-inch mitigation trigger.
- Heritage Trees and trees within a Significant Stand, which earn or cost extra tree points on a development Preservation Plan
- Trees on City of Arlington property and in rights-of-way, which go through Parks and Recreation rather than this permit
How to apply in Arlington
- 1
First check your lot. If it is under one acre and has an occupied residential structure, stop — no permit and no mitigation are required.
- 2
If a permit is required and no building permit is being sought, complete the Tree Removal Permit Application. If a building permit IS being sought, do not use that form; mitigation is determined during landscape plan review instead.
- 3
Attach a site plan showing lot boundaries, the building footprint and the approximate location of each tree to be removed.
- 4
List each tree by species, number and size in caliper inches.
- 5
Attach a landscape plan showing new tree locations if you are replacing trees, and pay the review fee.
- 6
Submit to the One Start Development Center, 2nd Floor City Hall, 101 W. Abram St.
- 7
The permit is issued once mitigation measures have been approved and are in place. Written authorization is granted by the Zoning Administrator or designee.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Arlington's fee schedule lists a tree removal permit fee of $10.00 per tree, with a $30.00 minimum and a $150.00 maximum, when not in conjunction with a building permit. Where mitigation is owed and not met by planting, it is paid into the Reforestation Fund at the Tree Replacement rate in the Planning and Development Services Fee Schedule.
- Penalties
- Unauthorized removal means cutting, clearing or burning protected trees without prior approval of a Preservation Plan or tree removal permit, or in nonconformance with one. The Building Official may issue a Stop Work Order. The responsible party must pay into the Reforestation Fund the total caliper inches removed times the Unauthorized Tree Removal Fee, in addition to all other remedies, and the offense is punishable under UDC Section 8.7. The city may also withhold future permits for the responsible party or the property until fees are paid in full.
- Ordinance
- Arlington Unified Development Code Section 5.2.3 — Tree Preservation and Replacement. UDC amended by Ordinance No. 25-059, adopted August 26, 2025, which among other things clarified the need for a tree removal permit.
Worth knowing
- The exemption is worth quoting exactly. UDC 5.2.3(I)(1): "A permit shall be required for the removal of trees on property not subject to the tree preservation, mitigation, and replacement standards for residential or non-residential development. Provided, however, neither a tree removal permit nor mitigation shall be required for the removal of trees on a parcel, tract, or lot under one acre in size with an occupied residential structure."
- Dead, dying and diseased trees are exempt from the preservation requirements, but normally only after written notification to and approval by the Zoning Administrator. That notification and approval is itself waived on tracts under one acre with an occupied residential structure.
- Removing any species on the city's prohibited plant list is exempt outright.
- Anticipatory removal is prohibited. Except as allowed by a Tree Removal Permit, trees may not be removed before the plat associated with site development is recorded.
- Land being converted to crop or animal production must preserve at least 35 percent of existing protected caliper inches, must preserve Heritage Trees, and does require a tree removal permit.
- Arlington sits on the eastern branch of the Cross Timbers ecosystem, which is why post oaks, Texas oaks and blackjack oaks get special treatment throughout Section 5.2.3.
- State law caps what any Texas city can charge you. Texas Local Government Code Section 212.905, added by Acts 2017, 85th Legislature, 1st Called Session, Chapter 7 (H.B. 7), effective December 1, 2017, says a municipality may not require a tree mitigation fee for a removed tree that is both on "an existing one-family or two-family dwelling that is the person's residence" and "less than 10 inches in diameter at the point on the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground." It also says a municipality may not prohibit removal of, or charge a mitigation fee for, a tree that is diseased or dead or that poses an imminent or immediate threat to persons or property, and it requires cities that do charge a mitigation fee to offer a tree-planting credit — a full 100 percent credit where the property is the person's own one- or two-family residence. Section 212.905 does not stop a city from requiring a permit; it constrains fees.
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.
- — CONTRADICTION, recorded not resolved: the city's posted Tree Removal Permit Application, dated 11/12/2014, states without qualification that "Trees removed or adversely impacted that measure 6" in diameter or larger (measured 4.5' above grade) require a tree removal permit" and gives a Reforestation Fund rate of $100.00 per inch under Resolution 94-266. It contains no lot-size exemption. The currently adopted UDC, amended August 26, 2025, does contain the under-one-acre residential exemption and points the mitigation rate to the fee schedule rather than to a fixed $100. The form appears not to have been updated. Confirm with Planning and Development Services which governs your removal.
- — POSSIBLE CONFLICT WITH STATE LAW, recorded not resolved: Arlington's UDC triggers mitigation at six caliper inches, and at three caliper inches for Cross Timbers oaks. Texas Local Government Code Section 212.905(b) bars a municipality from requiring a tree mitigation fee for a tree under 10 inches in diameter measured 4.5 feet above the ground when it stands on an existing one- or two-family dwelling that is the owner's residence. For most Arlington homeowners the question never arises, because lots under one acre with an occupied residential structure are exempt from the permit and mitigation entirely. It could arise for an owner-occupied home on a lot of one acre or more. We record both provisions and do not attempt to say which controls. Note also that Section 212.905(i) says the section does not apply to property within five miles of a federal military base in active use as of December 1, 2017 — whether any part of Arlington falls in that band is a location question we did not resolve.
- — The current dollar figure for the Tree Replacement and Unauthorized Tree Removal fees in the Planning and Development Services Fee Schedule.
- — The prohibited plant list and the Bonus Tree list, which live in the UDC User's Guide rather than in the code itself.