Tree Removal Permits in Athens, GA

Verified against Athens city sources · last checked 2026-08-06

Do you need a permit?

No permit required for most private trees

Athens-Clarke County writes the exemption into the ordinance itself: "Protected tree status does not apply to trees on single-family residential lots after the certificate of occupancy has been issued." On an ordinary Athens house lot there is no permit, no notice and no diameter threshold, and the county says outright that non-protected private trees "may be removed at any time for any reason." Three things pull you back in: a property on the Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area, a lot over one acre where several trees are coming down in one year, and a lot that still carries an approved Tree Management Plan from a post-2005 development.

Size threshold

None applies to an ordinary single-family lot. The county's Tree Removal Standards say: "Aside from the Milledge Avenue Overlay District, the Community Tree Management Ordinance does not regulate trees on privately held lots that have not been developed since 2005. Non-protected private trees may be removed at any time for any reason." The one diameter number that binds a homeowner is in the Milledge Avenue overlay: "All trees 8" dbh (diameter breast height) and greater within the Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area meeting the definition of a 'conservable tree' per section 8-7-6 shall be conserved."

What's protected in Athens

Trees in the Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area at 8 inches DBH or more — the only place in Athens where an ordinary homeowner needs a removal permit. The area runs between the front lot line and the front facade line on properties fronting Milledge Avenue between West Broad Street and South Lumpkin Street, plus adjacent parcels.
Athens-Clarke County trees — "Any tree whose trunk is growing wholly or partially on land owned by Athens-Clarke County, including, but not limited to, public street rights-of-way, parks, and building and facility yards." These cannot be removed without approval from the landscape management division administrator.
Trees conserved or planted to satisfy a county code requirement — these stay protected forever on everything except single-family lots, including open-space areas inside single-family subdivisions, condos, duplexes and commercial property.
Landmark trees — designated on the owner's own voluntary application, for age over 50 years, size (large canopy over 36 inches DBH, medium over 24 inches, small over 12 inches), champion status, rarity, or historic association.
Trees in protected environmental areas — riparian buffers, floodplains, wetlands and groundwater recharge areas are governed by a separate chapter with its own permits.

How to apply in Athens

1
For an ordinary lot there is nothing to file. The county's own flowchart still begins "START HERE! Contact the ACC Planning Department (706) 613-3515" so you can confirm your parcel is not in an overlay and does not carry an approved Tree Management Plan.
2
Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area: submit both a Zoning Permit application and a Certificate of Appropriateness, $25 each, and contact the ACC Arborist about mitigation conditions. Mitigation is inch-for-inch replacement planted on the same property or on adjacent rights-of-way, with replacement trees no less than three inches caliper.
3
Lot over one acre with several trees coming down: file a Notice of Timber Harvest with the Planning Director. Submittals are the application, a site plan, the Georgia Forestry Commission Notice of Timber Harvesting Activity form, a right-of-way encroachment permit and a $5,000 bond or letter of credit, waivable on parcels of three acres or less. There is no fee.
4
Take the free consultation. The county states: "The Community Tree Program offers tree management consultations to Athens-Clarke County residents... There is no charge for our staff to come meet with you as these consultations are a tax-funded service." Call Landscape Management at 706-613-3561.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: There is no fee for an ordinary homeowner because there is no application. Published tree fees from the Planning Department: Tree Management Plan $65; Notice of Timber Harvest no fee; Variance to the Community Tree Management Ordinance $225; Forest Management Activity Waiver $225; Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Removal Zoning Permit $25; Milledge Avenue Certificate of Appropriateness $25; Administrative Waiver for Tree Conservation $20. Georgia law bars a fee on the timber notice: "No county or municipality shall require a fee of any kind for receiving a notification of a timber harvest."
Penalties: Section 8-7-23 makes a violation an infraction punishable under section 1-1-5, which sets "a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or any combination thereof," with each day a separate offense. Timber notice violations are capped lower: "the maximum fine for each violation shall be $500.00." The enforcement tools are a stop work order and withholding of a certificate of occupancy. The real penalty is the development freeze in section 8-7-18(i)(1): "If a tree management plan or notice of timber harvest is required but has not been submitted and approved prior to timber harvesting activity, no development activity may occur on a site for a period of five years after the commencement date of the timber harvesting or tree cutting or removal."
Ordinance: Athens-Clarke County Code of Ordinances, Part III, Title 8 (Planning), Chapter 8-7 — Community Tree Management, sections 8-7-1 through 8-7-23, known as the "Community Tree Management Ordinance of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia." Adopted by Ordinance of June 7, 2005 and amended many times since; the most recent amendments to the chapter were the Ordinance of December 1, 2020 (sections 8-7-2, 8-7-10, 8-7-16 and 8-7-19) and the Ordinance of January 4, 2022 (section 8-7-19). Milledge Avenue overlay at section 9-12-7, last amended by Ordinance of May 2, 2017. Code current through the Ordinance of October 1, 2024 (Supplement 47).

Worth knowing

Athens will not make your neighbour cut a tree, and will not stop you cutting yours. The county states flatly: "Athens Clarke County does not have the ability to mandate tree removal," and its own guidance adds that "in no case will the Community Tree Management Ordinance ever require that a hazardous tree be retained on an urban site."
Historic districts do not protect trees here. A full read of Chapter 8-5, Historic Preservation, contains no occurrence of the word tree, and the county confirms that "At this time, only trees in the Tree Preservation Area located along Milledge Avenue... are protected." The Certificate of Appropriateness on the Milledge fee line is an overlay requirement, not a historic-district one.
The trap is buying a newer house. The single-family carve-out applies only to single-family residential lots. Condos, duplexes in multi-family zones, commercial property and open-space areas within single-family subdivisions must maintain their conserved and planted canopy "in perpetuity," and those trees stay protected forever.
Athens does not license or register tree services. A full-text scan of Title 6, Licenses and Business Regulations, returns no occurrence of tree, arborist or landscape; tree companies pay only the general occupation tax. The county says: "Athens-Clarke County does not endorse any particular tree service; however we do recommend that you consider using a Certified Arborist for work on living trees." ISA certification is mandatory only for utility work in the county right-of-way.
Boundary trees carry real liability. The county publishes a Trees and the Law sheet warning that "under Georgia law, a tree service that makes a mistake with a boundary line tree can be held liable for the landscape value of the tree," and explaining that adjoining owners do not co-own a boundary tree — each owns the portion on their side with an easement of support.
Cosmetic reasons will not get a protected tree removed. Section 8-7-19(l)(3) lists as reasons "for which tree removal is not permitted" both sign visibility and "Unwanted production of leaves, fruit, or other organic litter that does not create an unsafe condition."
The 60 percent canopy figure people quote is aspirational, not binding: owners of single-family lots are "encouraged, but not required" to maintain it after a certificate of occupancy.
There is no tree bank or fee in lieu in Athens. Milledge Avenue mitigation is in-kind planting only.
The Community Tree Council, a 15-member advisory board meeting the second Monday of each month, hears appeals of denied landmark tree designations — not removal permits.
Georgia state law backs all of this up. O.C.G.A. section 12-6-24 bars local permits for timber harvesting but expressly preserves local authority: the restriction "shall not preclude counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions from enacting and enforcing tree ordinances, landscape ordinances, or streamside buffer ordinances."

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.

— Whether a designated landmark tree on an existing single-family lot can be removed permit-free. Section 8-7-16 makes landmark trees protected in one sentence and strips protection from single-family lots after certificate of occupancy in the next. Sections 8-7-16(e) and 8-7-19(l)(4) both carve out "landmark trees on single-family residential lots," implying removal is contemplated. The code is genuinely ambiguous on its face. Confirm with the ACC Arborist before cutting one.
— Whether five or six trees triggers the Notice of Timber Harvest. The code exempts "The harvesting of five or fewer trees on a site within a calendar year," while the county's Applications and Fees page and tree removal flowchart both say an approved application is required before removing "5 or more" trees. Both are reported.
— What counts as "an environmental area" for a homeowner on a lot over one acre outside a single-family zoning district. Chapter 8-6, Protected Environmental Areas, has its own permit regime that was not fully traced. If your lot touches a creek, that is a separate ordinance with separate permits.
— Exact ordinance numbers. Athens-Clarke County dates its ordinances rather than numbering them, so there is no ordinance number to cite for the 2005 adoption or any amendment. The county's own Recent Ordinance Changes page dates the last two tree amendments December 4, 2020 and January 5, 2022 while Municode cites them as December 1, 2020 and January 4, 2022. Both are reported.
— A direct phone or email for the ACC Arborist. Only the Planning Department main line is published.
— Whether Municode's Supplement 47, codified through October 1, 2024, is fully current. No newer tree amendment appears on the county's Recent Ordinance Changes page, but that page itself has no entry newer than 2022.

Sources

Who to contact in Athens

Athens-Clarke County Planning Department (County Arborist) — the office named on the county's own tree removal flowchart

706-613-3515. For free homeowner tree consultations and right-of-way trees, Landscape Management Division, Central Services: 706-613-3561. trees@accgov.com Official page

120 W. Dougherty St., Athens, GA 30601

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Size threshold

What's protected in Athens

Trees in the Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area at 8 inches DBH or more — the only place in Athens where an ordinary homeowner needs a removal permit. The area runs between the front lot line and the front facade line on properties fronting Milledge Avenue between West Broad Street and South Lumpkin Street, plus adjacent parcels.

Athens-Clarke County trees — "Any tree whose trunk is growing wholly or partially on land owned by Athens-Clarke County, including, but not limited to, public street rights-of-way, parks, and building and facility yards." These cannot be removed without approval from the landscape management division administrator.

Trees conserved or planted to satisfy a county code requirement — these stay protected forever on everything except single-family lots, including open-space areas inside single-family subdivisions, condos, duplexes and commercial property.

Landmark trees — designated on the owner's own voluntary application, for age over 50 years, size (large canopy over 36 inches DBH, medium over 24 inches, small over 12 inches), champion status, rarity, or historic association.

Trees in protected environmental areas — riparian buffers, floodplains, wetlands and groundwater recharge areas are governed by a separate chapter with its own permits.

How to apply in Athens

1
For an ordinary lot there is nothing to file. The county's own flowchart still begins "START HERE! Contact the ACC Planning Department (706) 613-3515" so you can confirm your parcel is not in an overlay and does not carry an approved Tree Management Plan.
2
Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Area: submit both a Zoning Permit application and a Certificate of Appropriateness, $25 each, and contact the ACC Arborist about mitigation conditions. Mitigation is inch-for-inch replacement planted on the same property or on adjacent rights-of-way, with replacement trees no less than three inches caliper.
3
Lot over one acre with several trees coming down: file a Notice of Timber Harvest with the Planning Director. Submittals are the application, a site plan, the Georgia Forestry Commission Notice of Timber Harvesting Activity form, a right-of-way encroachment permit and a $5,000 bond or letter of credit, waivable on parcels of three acres or less. There is no fee.
4
Take the free consultation. The county states: "The Community Tree Program offers tree management consultations to Athens-Clarke County residents... There is no charge for our staff to come meet with you as these consultations are a tax-funded service." Call Landscape Management at 706-613-3561.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

There is no fee for an ordinary homeowner because there is no application. Published tree fees from the Planning Department: Tree Management Plan $65; Notice of Timber Harvest no fee; Variance to the Community Tree Management Ordinance $225; Forest Management Activity Waiver $225; Milledge Avenue Tree Preservation Removal Zoning Permit $25; Milledge Avenue Certificate of Appropriateness $25; Administrative Waiver for Tree Conservation $20. Georgia law bars a fee on the timber notice: "No county or municipality shall require a fee of any kind for receiving a notification of a timber harvest."

Penalties

Section 8-7-23 makes a violation an infraction punishable under section 1-1-5, which sets "a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or any combination thereof," with each day a separate offense. Timber notice violations are capped lower: "the maximum fine for each violation shall be $500.00." The enforcement tools are a stop work order and withholding of a certificate of occupancy. The real penalty is the development freeze in section 8-7-18(i)(1): "If a tree management plan or notice of timber harvest is required but has not been submitted and approved prior to timber harvesting activity, no development activity may occur on a site for a period of five years after the commencement date of the timber harvesting or tree cutting or removal."

Ordinance

Athens-Clarke County Code of Ordinances, Part III, Title 8 (Planning), Chapter 8-7 — Community Tree Management, sections 8-7-1 through 8-7-23, known as the "Community Tree Management Ordinance of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia." Adopted by Ordinance of June 7, 2005 and amended many times since; the most recent amendments to the chapter were the Ordinance of December 1, 2020 (sections 8-7-2, 8-7-10, 8-7-16 and 8-7-19) and the Ordinance of January 4, 2022 (section 8-7-19). Milledge Avenue overlay at section 9-12-7, last amended by Ordinance of May 2, 2017. Code current through the Ordinance of October 1, 2024 (Supplement 47).

Worth knowing

Athens will not make your neighbour cut a tree, and will not stop you cutting yours. The county states flatly: "Athens Clarke County does not have the ability to mandate tree removal," and its own guidance adds that "in no case will the Community Tree Management Ordinance ever require that a hazardous tree be retained on an urban site."
Historic districts do not protect trees here. A full read of Chapter 8-5, Historic Preservation, contains no occurrence of the word tree, and the county confirms that "At this time, only trees in the Tree Preservation Area located along Milledge Avenue... are protected." The Certificate of Appropriateness on the Milledge fee line is an overlay requirement, not a historic-district one.
The trap is buying a newer house. The single-family carve-out applies only to single-family residential lots. Condos, duplexes in multi-family zones, commercial property and open-space areas within single-family subdivisions must maintain their conserved and planted canopy "in perpetuity," and those trees stay protected forever.
Athens does not license or register tree services. A full-text scan of Title 6, Licenses and Business Regulations, returns no occurrence of tree, arborist or landscape; tree companies pay only the general occupation tax. The county says: "Athens-Clarke County does not endorse any particular tree service; however we do recommend that you consider using a Certified Arborist for work on living trees." ISA certification is mandatory only for utility work in the county right-of-way.
Boundary trees carry real liability. The county publishes a Trees and the Law sheet warning that "under Georgia law, a tree service that makes a mistake with a boundary line tree can be held liable for the landscape value of the tree," and explaining that adjoining owners do not co-own a boundary tree — each owns the portion on their side with an easement of support.
Cosmetic reasons will not get a protected tree removed. Section 8-7-19(l)(3) lists as reasons "for which tree removal is not permitted" both sign visibility and "Unwanted production of leaves, fruit, or other organic litter that does not create an unsafe condition."
The 60 percent canopy figure people quote is aspirational, not binding: owners of single-family lots are "encouraged, but not required" to maintain it after a certificate of occupancy.
There is no tree bank or fee in lieu in Athens. Milledge Avenue mitigation is in-kind planting only.
The Community Tree Council, a 15-member advisory board meeting the second Monday of each month, hears appeals of denied landmark tree designations — not removal permits.
Georgia state law backs all of this up. O.C.G.A. section 12-6-24 bars local permits for timber harvesting but expressly preserves local authority: the restriction "shall not preclude counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions from enacting and enforcing tree ordinances, landscape ordinances, or streamside buffer ordinances."

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.

— Whether a designated landmark tree on an existing single-family lot can be removed permit-free. Section 8-7-16 makes landmark trees protected in one sentence and strips protection from single-family lots after certificate of occupancy in the next. Sections 8-7-16(e) and 8-7-19(l)(4) both carve out "landmark trees on single-family residential lots," implying removal is contemplated. The code is genuinely ambiguous on its face. Confirm with the ACC Arborist before cutting one.
— Whether five or six trees triggers the Notice of Timber Harvest. The code exempts "The harvesting of five or fewer trees on a site within a calendar year," while the county's Applications and Fees page and tree removal flowchart both say an approved application is required before removing "5 or more" trees. Both are reported.
— What counts as "an environmental area" for a homeowner on a lot over one acre outside a single-family zoning district. Chapter 8-6, Protected Environmental Areas, has its own permit regime that was not fully traced. If your lot touches a creek, that is a separate ordinance with separate permits.
— Exact ordinance numbers. Athens-Clarke County dates its ordinances rather than numbering them, so there is no ordinance number to cite for the 2005 adoption or any amendment. The county's own Recent Ordinance Changes page dates the last two tree amendments December 4, 2020 and January 5, 2022 while Municode cites them as December 1, 2020 and January 4, 2022. Both are reported.
— A direct phone or email for the ACC Arborist. Only the Planning Department main line is published.
— Whether Municode's Supplement 47, codified through October 1, 2024, is fully current. No newer tree amendment appears on the county's Recent Ordinance Changes page, but that page itself has no entry newer than 2022.