Tree Removal Permits in Auburn, AL

Verified against Auburn city sources · last checked 2026-08-07

Do you need a permit?

No permit required for most private trees

Auburn is the clearest no in Alabama, and the city says it in plain English rather than leaving it to be inferred. Its Tree FAQ answers the question directly: "Do I have to get permission to cut down a healthy tree in my yard? No. Trees on private property are not regulated by the City of Auburn." The ordinance backs that up twice over - Section 2-114(b) is an express savings clause for private owners, and the tree ordinance defines a protected tree as one on public property. The real trap in Auburn is the opposite of a permit: the strip between your sidewalk and the street is usually city right-of-way, and a tree there needs a Street Tree Removal Permit and a risk assessment first. Confirm where your property line actually is before you cut.

Size threshold

None. The rule turns on who owns the ground, not on how big the tree is, so no diameter threshold triggers a permit on private residential property. The code does define a tree generally at Section 17-63(7) as "A woody plant which at maturity is thirteen (13) feet or more in height with a single trunk at least three (3) inches in diameter, unbranched for at least several feet above the ground and having a more or less definite crown," but that is a definition and not a removal threshold. Auburn splits its measurement conventions by purpose rather than by species, and says so: "For ordinance purposed [sic], caliper is used for replacement trees and DBH is used for existing trees." Caliper is "The diameter of a tree measured at a point six (6) inches above the ground line if the resulting diameter measurement is no more than four (4) inches. If the resulting measurement is more than four (4) inches, the measurement is made at a point twelve (12) inches above the ground line." DBH is "The tree trunk diameter (in inches) at a height of four and one-half feet (4 1/2 feet) above the ground. If a tree splits into multiple trunks below four and one-half feet (4 1/2 feet), then the trunk is measured at its most narrow point beneath the split."

What's protected in Auburn

Trees on public property, and only those. Section 17-63(4): "Protected tree: Any tree located on public property within the City of Auburn." Section 17-63(5): "Public property: Any right-of-way, park, or other ground owned by the City of Auburn." Section 17-64(4) then makes it "unlawful for any person, business or other entity, without first obtaining a permit as herein provided, to remove, cause to be removed, relocate, alter, damage or destroy any tree on public property, including public rights-of-way."
Specimen trees, but as a development incentive rather than a restriction - this is the category most likely to be misreported elsewhere. Zoning Ordinance Section 424 defines a specimen tree as one "in fair or better condition which equals or exceeds the following diameter sizes: (1) Large Hardwood Trees: 24-inch DBH or larger, such as oaks, hickories, poplars, etc. (2) Large Coniferous Trees: 30-inch DBH or larger, such as pines, cedars, etc. (3) Understory Trees: 4-inch DBH or larger, such as dogwoods, redbuds, sourwoods, etc." The consequence is a planting credit for developers: "Credit for any specimen tree thus saved shall be twice the normal credit." There is no prohibition on removing one from a private yard.
Trees in a required bufferyard on a performance subdivision lot. Zoning Ordinance Section 420.07(A): "If trees are removed or destroyed by the willful act of the property owner, occupant, tenant, contractor, and/or respective agent of each, replacement trees of a greater caliper than the original planting may be required as determined by the Planning Director." Section 420.02 exempts conventional single-family subdivisions from bufferyards, so this reaches performance subdivisions and HOA common-area lots rather than typical detached-home lots.

How to apply in Auburn

1
For a tree on your own private property there is nothing to apply for and no office to notify.
2
First confirm the tree is actually yours. The grass strip between the sidewalk and the street is commonly city right-of-way in Auburn, and a tree standing there is a protected tree under Section 17-63(4) no matter who mows around it.
3
If the tree is on city right-of-way, the city's published process is: "Citizens may request inspection of city-owned trees by contacting the Public Works Department or by using the Fix-It App. The Urban Forestry Specialist will schedule an assessment within two weeks following the request."
4
The city continues: "If the tree is determined to be an extreme risk, it will be removed. If the tree is not determined to be an extreme risk but the citizen requests removal, they may apply for a Street Tree Removal Permit. Tree Risk Assessment must be requested and conducted before a Street Tree Removal Permit is issued." The assessment comes first; there is no way to skip it.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: No fee, because no permit is required for private property. The fee for the Street Tree Removal Permit that applies to right-of-way trees is not published in the code or on the city's Urban Forestry pages.
Penalties: These apply to public trees only. Section 17-69: "Any person violating any provision of this article or The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines shall upon conviction, be punished under the provisions of section 1-9 of the Code of the City of Auburn. In addition, the municipal judge shall have the authority to require those convicted of violating any provisions of this article or The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines to replace trees damaged or destroyed. The judge shall consider the recommendations of the beautification and urban forestry superintendent regarding the species and sizes of replacement trees." Section 1-9(a) supplies the amount: "shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or may be imprisoned for a period not exceeding six (6) months, at the sole discretion of the court trying the case." Section 1-9(g) adds that "In the event of an ongoing or repeated violation of a city ordinance, each day the individual or corporation is in violation shall be treated as a separate offense."
Ordinance: Auburn Code of Ordinances, Chapter 17, Article IV - Municipal Tree Ordinance, Sections 17-61 through 17-69, adopted by Ordinance No. 1875 on November 16, 1999, which amended Article IV in its entirety. Predecessors were Ord. No. 1269 (January 19, 1988) and Ord. No. 1339 (October 16, 1989). The private-property savings clause sits separately in the Tree Commission division, Chapter 2, Division 4, Sections 2-111 through 2-114, and derives from Ord. No. 1170, Sections 4 and 5, adopted September 18, 1984, as amended by Ord. No. 1172 (11-6-84), Ord. No. 1377 (10-2-90) and Ord. No. 1671 (11-19-96). Code current through Ordinance No. 3555, enacted October 21, 2025 (Supp. No. 90). The zoning ordinance is published separately from the Code of Ordinances and is not on Municode; Article IV (General Regulations) is the version amended May 16, 2023 and Article II (Definitions) is dated November 2025.

Worth knowing

The savings clause is the sentence to quote to anyone who tells you otherwise. Section 2-114(b): "Nothing contained herein shall prevent the removal of any trees or portions of trees on private property, and this division is not intended to restrict the removal of trees by owners of private property."
There is one real caveat and it is about scale, not about individual trees. Zoning Ordinance Section 403.02 makes wholesale clearing a regulated land use called Forestry: the use "includes commercial logging and pulping operations, clearing or destruction of forested or woodland areas, selective cutting or clearing for commercial or other purposes... This does not include authorized clearing in accordance with plans approved pursuant to this Ordinance, removal of sick or dead trees, or removal of trees on lots of one (1) acre or less." On a lot of an acre or less this is categorically inapplicable. On a larger lot, clear-cutting several acres of woodland could be argued into the Forestry use, which carries a 25-acre minimum lot size and district restrictions. Removing individual yard trees is not Forestry; clearing acreage warrants a call to Planning first.
The land-disturbance permit is not triggered by ordinary yard work. Section 7-73(a) requires an NPDES permit only for "disturbing greater than or equal to one acre," and Section 7-73(d)(5) excludes "minor land disturbing activities as home gardens, landscaping on individual residential lots (excluding landscaping performed by, on behalf of, a developer or builder, who builds a house on any such lot), home repairs, home maintenance work."
The tree service has a cleanup duty, and it is a duty on them rather than a licence you must check. Section 20-30: "It shall be the responsibility of all tree surgeons doing work on private property to remove from premises all residue and rubbish resulting from such work." Separately, Section 12-18(c) requires a state license before the city issues a business license to trades Alabama regulates, a list that "include[s] but [is] not limited to... landscapers." There is no Auburn-specific tree service registration for a homeowner to verify.
Whether the city hauls the debris depends on who cut it. Section 20-29(a) excludes stumps and tree trunks from collection, "excepting however one occasional tree trunk or tree stump placed at the collection point by the owner or occupant rather than by a contractor, providing the trunk or stump is of such a size that it may be handled by one man." If a contractor does the work, the contractor hauls it.
Auburn's long-running Tree Commission and Tree City USA status create no private-property permit. Section 2-113 says the commission "may make recommendations." It is advisory and it is not who you call.
The city's own tree ordinances page links a superseded zoning document - an Article IV PDF amended 2019-04-02, when the current posted Article IV is amended 05-16-23. The key clauses on specimen trees, the Forestry use and bufferyard applicability are textually identical between the two versions, so the substance is unaffected, but anyone citing that link is citing a stale document.

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 a Street Tree Removal Permit. It is not published in the code or on the Urban Forestry pages and no fee schedule or application form was located. This is moot for private-property removal.
— The contents of "The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines." Section 17-68 says these are "on file with the city official" and they are subject to penalty under Section 17-69, but they are not published online. They govern public-tree procedure and cannot expand the ordinance onto private property, which Section 2-114(b) and Section 17-63(4) foreclose.
— Whether a renumbered Article IV of the zoning ordinance exists. Article II (Definitions), dated November 2025, cross-references "Section 428 for determination of specimen trees" and "Section 432(A) for Tree Survey Plan requirements," but in the posted Article IV (May 16, 2023) specimen trees are at Section 424 and Section 428 is Landscape Plan Submission Requirements. Articles II and V were updated to November 2025 while Article IV was left at May 2023, so a renumbered Article IV appears to exist and is not published. The zoning findings above rest on the most recent version the city actually publishes.
— A drafting ambiguity that implies a permit no operative section creates. The zoning ordinance's definition of "Tree Removal" includes item H, "Application of herbicides or defoliants to any tree without first obtaining a permit," but no operative section of the posted zoning articles establishes such a permit. Definitions do not create obligations, so this is not treated as a private-property trigger, but it is genuinely ambiguous drafting and is recorded rather than resolved.
— Two internal cross-reference errors in the code, recorded rather than fixed. Section 2-113 and the Chapter 2, Division 4 note both cite "Section 17-65, operation and duties of the tree commission," but the commission's duties are at Section 17-67 and Section 17-65 is the public-property permit section. Separately, zoning Section 425.02 introduces tree protection areas with the permissive phrase "the following methods are suggested" and then uses mandatory "shall" throughout the subsections that follow.
— What Alabama enabling authority Auburn relies on. Neither Ord. No. 1875 nor Ord. No. 1170 cites an enabling statute in the codified text. Since Auburn asserts no private-tree authority there is nothing here that would need enabling, but the citation is simply absent.
— The ZIP code for the Public Works Building. The city page gives the street address and suite without one.
— HOA and deed restrictions, which are outside government entirely and cannot be verified from public sources. Auburn has many covenant-governed subdivisions and a homeowner may still owe an architectural-review approval to an association even though the city requires nothing.

Sources

Who to contact in Auburn

Urban Forestry, Landscape and Sustainability Division, City of Auburn Public Works Department. Note that the Auburn Tree Commission is NOT the office to call - Section 2-113 makes it purely advisory, with no permit authority.

(334) 501-3022 is the best line for a tree question - it reaches Orum D. Snow, the Urban Forestry Specialist, who performs the tree risk assessments and handles street tree permits. (334) 501-3000 is the Public Works main line if the specialist is unavailable. (334) 501-7362 reaches Dusty Kimbrow, the Landscape and Sustainability Division Manager, who is listed on the city's tree ordinances page as the contact for ordinance questions. Public Works hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Auburn publishes no after-hours forestry line. osnow@auburnal.gov for the Urban Forestry Specialist; webpw@auburnal.gov for Public Works generally; dkimbrow@auburnal.gov for ordinance questions. Official page

Public Works Building, 4277 Wire Rd, Suite 300, Auburn, AL

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Size threshold

What's protected in Auburn

Trees on public property, and only those. Section 17-63(4): "Protected tree: Any tree located on public property within the City of Auburn." Section 17-63(5): "Public property: Any right-of-way, park, or other ground owned by the City of Auburn." Section 17-64(4) then makes it "unlawful for any person, business or other entity, without first obtaining a permit as herein provided, to remove, cause to be removed, relocate, alter, damage or destroy any tree on public property, including public rights-of-way."

Specimen trees, but as a development incentive rather than a restriction - this is the category most likely to be misreported elsewhere. Zoning Ordinance Section 424 defines a specimen tree as one "in fair or better condition which equals or exceeds the following diameter sizes: (1) Large Hardwood Trees: 24-inch DBH or larger, such as oaks, hickories, poplars, etc. (2) Large Coniferous Trees: 30-inch DBH or larger, such as pines, cedars, etc. (3) Understory Trees: 4-inch DBH or larger, such as dogwoods, redbuds, sourwoods, etc." The consequence is a planting credit for developers: "Credit for any specimen tree thus saved shall be twice the normal credit." There is no prohibition on removing one from a private yard.

Trees in a required bufferyard on a performance subdivision lot. Zoning Ordinance Section 420.07(A): "If trees are removed or destroyed by the willful act of the property owner, occupant, tenant, contractor, and/or respective agent of each, replacement trees of a greater caliper than the original planting may be required as determined by the Planning Director." Section 420.02 exempts conventional single-family subdivisions from bufferyards, so this reaches performance subdivisions and HOA common-area lots rather than typical detached-home lots.

How to apply in Auburn

1
For a tree on your own private property there is nothing to apply for and no office to notify.
2
First confirm the tree is actually yours. The grass strip between the sidewalk and the street is commonly city right-of-way in Auburn, and a tree standing there is a protected tree under Section 17-63(4) no matter who mows around it.
3
If the tree is on city right-of-way, the city's published process is: "Citizens may request inspection of city-owned trees by contacting the Public Works Department or by using the Fix-It App. The Urban Forestry Specialist will schedule an assessment within two weeks following the request."
4
The city continues: "If the tree is determined to be an extreme risk, it will be removed. If the tree is not determined to be an extreme risk but the citizen requests removal, they may apply for a Street Tree Removal Permit. Tree Risk Assessment must be requested and conducted before a Street Tree Removal Permit is issued." The assessment comes first; there is no way to skip it.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

No fee, because no permit is required for private property. The fee for the Street Tree Removal Permit that applies to right-of-way trees is not published in the code or on the city's Urban Forestry pages.

Penalties

These apply to public trees only. Section 17-69: "Any person violating any provision of this article or The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines shall upon conviction, be punished under the provisions of section 1-9 of the Code of the City of Auburn. In addition, the municipal judge shall have the authority to require those convicted of violating any provisions of this article or The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines to replace trees damaged or destroyed. The judge shall consider the recommendations of the beautification and urban forestry superintendent regarding the species and sizes of replacement trees." Section 1-9(a) supplies the amount: "shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or may be imprisoned for a period not exceeding six (6) months, at the sole discretion of the court trying the case." Section 1-9(g) adds that "In the event of an ongoing or repeated violation of a city ordinance, each day the individual or corporation is in violation shall be treated as a separate offense."

Ordinance

Auburn Code of Ordinances, Chapter 17, Article IV - Municipal Tree Ordinance, Sections 17-61 through 17-69, adopted by Ordinance No. 1875 on November 16, 1999, which amended Article IV in its entirety. Predecessors were Ord. No. 1269 (January 19, 1988) and Ord. No. 1339 (October 16, 1989). The private-property savings clause sits separately in the Tree Commission division, Chapter 2, Division 4, Sections 2-111 through 2-114, and derives from Ord. No. 1170, Sections 4 and 5, adopted September 18, 1984, as amended by Ord. No. 1172 (11-6-84), Ord. No. 1377 (10-2-90) and Ord. No. 1671 (11-19-96). Code current through Ordinance No. 3555, enacted October 21, 2025 (Supp. No. 90). The zoning ordinance is published separately from the Code of Ordinances and is not on Municode; Article IV (General Regulations) is the version amended May 16, 2023 and Article II (Definitions) is dated November 2025.

Worth knowing

The savings clause is the sentence to quote to anyone who tells you otherwise. Section 2-114(b): "Nothing contained herein shall prevent the removal of any trees or portions of trees on private property, and this division is not intended to restrict the removal of trees by owners of private property."
There is one real caveat and it is about scale, not about individual trees. Zoning Ordinance Section 403.02 makes wholesale clearing a regulated land use called Forestry: the use "includes commercial logging and pulping operations, clearing or destruction of forested or woodland areas, selective cutting or clearing for commercial or other purposes... This does not include authorized clearing in accordance with plans approved pursuant to this Ordinance, removal of sick or dead trees, or removal of trees on lots of one (1) acre or less." On a lot of an acre or less this is categorically inapplicable. On a larger lot, clear-cutting several acres of woodland could be argued into the Forestry use, which carries a 25-acre minimum lot size and district restrictions. Removing individual yard trees is not Forestry; clearing acreage warrants a call to Planning first.
The land-disturbance permit is not triggered by ordinary yard work. Section 7-73(a) requires an NPDES permit only for "disturbing greater than or equal to one acre," and Section 7-73(d)(5) excludes "minor land disturbing activities as home gardens, landscaping on individual residential lots (excluding landscaping performed by, on behalf of, a developer or builder, who builds a house on any such lot), home repairs, home maintenance work."
The tree service has a cleanup duty, and it is a duty on them rather than a licence you must check. Section 20-30: "It shall be the responsibility of all tree surgeons doing work on private property to remove from premises all residue and rubbish resulting from such work." Separately, Section 12-18(c) requires a state license before the city issues a business license to trades Alabama regulates, a list that "include[s] but [is] not limited to... landscapers." There is no Auburn-specific tree service registration for a homeowner to verify.
Whether the city hauls the debris depends on who cut it. Section 20-29(a) excludes stumps and tree trunks from collection, "excepting however one occasional tree trunk or tree stump placed at the collection point by the owner or occupant rather than by a contractor, providing the trunk or stump is of such a size that it may be handled by one man." If a contractor does the work, the contractor hauls it.
Auburn's long-running Tree Commission and Tree City USA status create no private-property permit. Section 2-113 says the commission "may make recommendations." It is advisory and it is not who you call.
The city's own tree ordinances page links a superseded zoning document - an Article IV PDF amended 2019-04-02, when the current posted Article IV is amended 05-16-23. The key clauses on specimen trees, the Forestry use and bufferyard applicability are textually identical between the two versions, so the substance is unaffected, but anyone citing that link is citing a stale document.

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 a Street Tree Removal Permit. It is not published in the code or on the Urban Forestry pages and no fee schedule or application form was located. This is moot for private-property removal.
— The contents of "The Municipal Tree Ordinance Implementation Guidelines." Section 17-68 says these are "on file with the city official" and they are subject to penalty under Section 17-69, but they are not published online. They govern public-tree procedure and cannot expand the ordinance onto private property, which Section 2-114(b) and Section 17-63(4) foreclose.
— Whether a renumbered Article IV of the zoning ordinance exists. Article II (Definitions), dated November 2025, cross-references "Section 428 for determination of specimen trees" and "Section 432(A) for Tree Survey Plan requirements," but in the posted Article IV (May 16, 2023) specimen trees are at Section 424 and Section 428 is Landscape Plan Submission Requirements. Articles II and V were updated to November 2025 while Article IV was left at May 2023, so a renumbered Article IV appears to exist and is not published. The zoning findings above rest on the most recent version the city actually publishes.
— A drafting ambiguity that implies a permit no operative section creates. The zoning ordinance's definition of "Tree Removal" includes item H, "Application of herbicides or defoliants to any tree without first obtaining a permit," but no operative section of the posted zoning articles establishes such a permit. Definitions do not create obligations, so this is not treated as a private-property trigger, but it is genuinely ambiguous drafting and is recorded rather than resolved.
— Two internal cross-reference errors in the code, recorded rather than fixed. Section 2-113 and the Chapter 2, Division 4 note both cite "Section 17-65, operation and duties of the tree commission," but the commission's duties are at Section 17-67 and Section 17-65 is the public-property permit section. Separately, zoning Section 425.02 introduces tree protection areas with the permissive phrase "the following methods are suggested" and then uses mandatory "shall" throughout the subsections that follow.
— What Alabama enabling authority Auburn relies on. Neither Ord. No. 1875 nor Ord. No. 1170 cites an enabling statute in the codified text. Since Auburn asserts no private-tree authority there is nothing here that would need enabling, but the citation is simply absent.
— The ZIP code for the Public Works Building. The city page gives the street address and suite without one.
— HOA and deed restrictions, which are outside government entirely and cannot be verified from public sources. Auburn has many covenant-governed subdivisions and a homeowner may still owe an architectural-review approval to an association even though the city requires nothing.