Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Chicago regulates parkway trees, the ones in the strip between the sidewalk and the curb, and not the trees in your yard. Parkway trees are legally city property, you cannot remove or even trim one yourself, and there is no diameter cutoff because the rule turns on whose land the tree stands on rather than how big it is. For a tree entirely on your own private property with no construction going on, the Municipal Code does not require a removal permit. Two obligations still reach your yard: a tree with Dutch elm disease must be removed by you at your expense, and a dead or hazardous tree can be declared a public nuisance.
What's protected in Chicago
- Parkway trees. Section 10-32-160: "Once planted on a parkway, a tree shall become and remain the property of the city and shall be subject to the provision of this chapter." Parkway is defined as "that portion of the public way between a public street and the nearest parallel property line including sidewalk areas."
- Public trees and shrubs generally - "any shade or ornamental tree or shrub now or hereafter growing on property of the City of Chicago under the jurisdiction of the bureau of forestry, parkways and beautification"
- Public trees near private construction. Section 10-32-120 makes the private property owner install protective devices around "each nearby public tree," and "No such device may be installed without a permit issued by the commissioner."
- Trees infected with Dutch elm disease, on private property, which must be removed by the owner under section 7-28-130
How to apply in Chicago
- 1
For a tree entirely on your own property, no city permit applies.
- 2
For a dead or damaged parkway tree, call 311 or file online. The request type is "Tree Removal Inspection," owned by Streets and Sanitation. Related types are Tree Emergency, Tree Debris Clean-Up Request and Tree Planting Request.
- 3
Do not file a Tree Trim Request. The city's own 311 data flags it "(NO LONGER BEING ACCEPTED)" - since spring 2023 Chicago trims on a citywide grid schedule instead.
- 4
Contractors and developers doing parkway work contact a City Forester at the Bureau of Forestry and file a Certificate of Liability Insurance with "Minimum $1,000,000.00 General Liability for each occurrence," endorsing "the City of Chicago as Additional Insured," with the Bureau of Forestry Permit Division as certificate holder.
- 5
Submit the permit application by fax. "EACH PERMIT IS LIMITED TO ONE (1) ACTIVITY." The form says "Tree removal applications may require up to seven (7) working days for approval. Please attach pictures of subject trees," while the webpage says to allow 10 working days for removal requests.
- 6
A copy of the permit must remain in the vehicle at all times.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Section 10-32-090: "The fee for issuance of a permit for work described in Section 10-32-060 shall be $20.00 payable at the time of application. Other permits issued under this chapter shall be issued without charge."
- Penalties
- Section 10-32-190: "Any person who violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be fined a sum not less than $10.00, nor more than $500.00 or may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 60 days, or both. Each day during which any violation shall occur or continue shall be a separate offense." The larger exposure is section 10-32-200: where a violation causes "the injury, mutilation or death of a public tree, shrub or other plant material... the costs of repair, removal or replacement of such tree... shall be borne by the party in violation," valued using the International Society of Arboriculture guide. Killing a mature parkway tree costs far more than the $500 fine cap.
- Ordinance
- Municipal Code of Chicago, Chapter 10-32 - Trees, Plants and Shrubs. The permit requirement is section 10-32-060 (Prior code section 32-6; amended Coun. J. 9-14-21, p. 35804, section 4). Definitions including Heritage tree are section 10-32-010 (amended Coun. J. 6-25-21, p. 31515, section 2). The Urban Forestry Advisory Board is section 10-32-245 (added Coun. J. 6-25-21; amended Coun. J. 12-16-24, p. 22879, Art. V, section 5). Dutch elm disease on private property is section 7-28-130. Codification current through 2026 S-73.
Worth knowing
- You mow it but you do not own it. Section 10-32-050 makes the adjacent owner responsible for "routine care of the parkway lawn... periodic watering, weeding and mowing," while section 10-32-160 keeps the tree itself city property.
- Dutch elm disease is a mandatory removal at your expense. Section 7-28-130: "All trees which become affected with Dutch elm disease are hereby declared to be a public nuisance. Any person owning or controlling any plot of ground upon which such a tree is situated shall, upon the appearance of evidence of any such disease, cause such tree to be sprayed and removed from the premises and burned." Fail to act within ten days of certified-mail notice and the city does it and bills you.
- A hazardous private tree can be ordered down. Section 10-32-040 declares a nuisance any tree that "has dead, dying, diseased or broken limbs which may be hazardous to public safety, or is dead or diseased or harbors insects or pests." Notice goes to the property owner, who "shall cause the condition creating such nuisance to be removed within ten days after receipt of said notice, at his own expense." This is a removal order, not a permit, and it is the main way Chicago reaches a private tree.
- The city already has the power to inspect your trees. Section 10-32-030(e) lets the Deputy Commissioner "enter upon private property within the City of Chicago at all reasonable times for the purpose of examining any tree, shrub or other plant material located upon or over such property." Chicago simply never attached a removal permit to that authority.
- A private-tree ordinance is a live policy question rather than current law. The city's 2023 Urban Forest Management Plan recommends "A comprehensive review and revision of Chapter 17 (landscape ordinance) to include stronger tree preservation and protection measures," while conceding "there are not sufficient staff in place to enforce the city's tree ordinances, which limits the effectiveness of city ordinances."
- Chicago has no tree service, tree trimmer, arborist or tree expert business license. The complete list of license types in the city's official business license dataset contains no tree or arborist category. The 2023 Urban Forest Management Plan reviewed whether the city "Requires certified arborist for paid private tree work" and "Requires licensing of private tree care firms" and recommends adopting an ISA certified arborist requirement for contractors doing public tree work, which would be unnecessary if one existed. Hiring an unlicensed tree service is not itself unlawful here. For parkway work, the real gate is that the contractor must be registered with the Bureau of Forestry and carry $1 million liability naming the city as additional insured.
- The Landscape Ordinance in Title 17-11 is construction-triggered and exempts small homes outright: exempt projects include "Construction, repair or rehabilitation of any one, two or three-family dwelling. For these homes, parkway trees will be planted by the City." The city restates it as "Exempt from the Landscape Ordinance are residences of three living units or less." There is also no separate landscape permit; it rides along with the building and zoning permit.
- No permit is needed "for the routine maintenance and replacement of vegetation where soil disturbance of six inches or less is required."
- The Department of Buildings has no tree-related permit type at all.
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 city's Forestry Permit Application page contradicts the ordinance. The page says "The Bureau of Forestry issues permits for any work involving trees" and twice instructs applicants to "indicate if the work to be performed is on Public Property or Private Property," which reads as though private tree work is in scope. But the official form that page links to is titled "APPLICATION TO PERFORM WORK ON TREES WITHIN THE PUBLIC WAY," and section 10-32-060 limits the permit to "a parkway tree or shrub." Both are reported rather than reconciled. If your tree is anywhere near the parkway line, call 312-746-5254 first.
- — Whether Chicago's Heritage Tree program was ever established or carries any removal restriction. Section 10-32-010(i) defines a Heritage tree as "a tree of special significance to the City because of its age, size, type, historical association, or horticultural value," and section 10-32-245(b)(5) charges the Urban Forestry Advisory Board to "Establish a Heritage Tree program," but no operative protection was found attached to the definition.
- — Whether any pending 2025 or 2026 ordinance would introduce a private-tree rule. The current codification contains none, but Chicago's legislative-tracking API is disabled server-side, so pending legislation could not be swept.
- — Which Bureau of Forestry fax number is current. The webpage gives 312.743.8044 and the PDF form gives 312.743.8030. Both are reported.
- — Whether removal permit review takes 7 or 10 working days. The form and the webpage disagree.
- — Whether a generic Chicago business license category, such as Home Repair, captures tree services even though no tree-specific license exists.
- — Whether dropping a private tree across the parkway or sidewalk needs a separate public way use permit.
Sources
- Municipal Code of Chicago, Chapter 10-32 - Trees, Plants and Shrubs
- Municipal Code of Chicago, Section 10-32-060 - Permit required
- Municipal Code of Chicago, Section 10-32-040 - Public nuisance
- Municipal Code of Chicago, Section 7-28-130 - Diseased trees
- City of Chicago - Bureau of Forestry Permit Information and Application
- City of Chicago - Dead or Damaged Trees
- City of Chicago - Landscape Ordinance
- City of Chicago - 2023 Urban Forest Management Plan (PDF)