Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Cleveland gives the clearest answer of any big city in Ohio. Asked "What if the tree is on private property?", the Division of Urban Forestry answers: "The city does not regulate trees on private property." Permits are required only for work on or near city-managed trees — street trees, tree lawn trees, park trees and trees on city lots.
What's protected in Cleveland
- Trees on city-managed land — street trees, trees in the tree lawn, park trees and trees on city-owned vacant lots
- Trees affected by nearby work, such as excavation close to the trunk of a city tree
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- CO 509.99(c): killing or removing a tree in a public highway without a permit draws a fine of not more than $1,000 for each offense, and every day the violation continues after the first is an additional violation. Separately, CO 509.99(d)(2) sets a $1,000 civil fine for each public tree removed in violation of the construction-protection rules, plus the full replacement cost of the tree calculated by the Trunk Formula Method from The Guide for Plant Appraisal. Ignoring a Commissioner's order to deal with a dead or diseased tree can bring a fine up to $500 or up to 30 days in jail, or both.
- Ordinance
- Cleveland Codified Ordinances, Part Five: Municipal Utilities and Services Code, Chapter 509 — Trees (removal permit at CO 509.02; owner trimming duty at CO 509.19; private property orders at CO 509.20; penalties at CO 509.99, last amended by Ord. No. 521-2024, effective July 16, 2024)
Worth knowing
- The code matches the city's answer. CO 509.02 makes it an offense to "kill or remove ... any tree planted or growing in any public highway within the City," and creates the permit: anyone wanting to take down a tree in a public highway applies to the Director of Public Properties, who issues a written permit if the removal appears necessary. Nothing there reaches a tree in a private yard.
- The one section that does reach private property, CO 509.20, is not a permit. It lets the Commissioner of Shade Trees order the trimming, preservation or removal of a dead or diseased tree on private property when that is necessary to prevent injury, property damage, or the spread of disease to trees on public land or a dedicated street. The order comes in writing by personal service or certified mail; ignore it and the city does the work and bills you.
- The city's own words: "Urban Forestry permits are required for any pruning/trimming, removal, planting, root pruning, and stump grinding of trees no City managed lands." Permits are also issued for development projects under the Cleveland Codified Ordinances.
- You can pay to have a city tree removed or pruned yourself, but only under an approved permit: "To perform work on city managed trees a completed permit application must be submitted and approved." A city forester will often inspect first, and some work requires a credentialed, licensed and insured contractor.
- For a private tree, the city's advice is to trim the parts that intrude into your airspace within legal limits, talk to your neighbor, and consider a homeowners insurance claim if there is damage.
- Urban Forestry answers weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For a tree emergency — a tree on a structure, blocking a driveway, or damaging a building — call 311 and a dispatcher will reach an on-call forester.
- If tree roots are interfering with a plumber's repair, the city runs a specific process: a root pruning or removal permit application to Urban Forestry, plus a Building & Housing permit (216-664-2910) if the plumber digs in your yard and a Water Pollution Control permit (216-664-2513) for digging in the tree lawn.
- CO 509.19 gives you a maintenance duty if shade trees front your lot: trim branches so a street lamp is not blocked, keep 8 feet of clearance over the sidewalk and 10 feet over the roadway, remove dead, decaying and broken limbs that overhang or could fall on the sidewalk or street, and take up and remove any tree that has died. Fail to do it after notice and the Shade Tree Commissioner does the work and sues for the cost.
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.
- — Permit fees for work on a city tree. The Urban Forestry page does not publish them.
- — Any private-property tree obligation that arrives through the Land Use Code or the Cleveland Neighborhood Form-Based Code during development. Chapter 509 also contains section 509.15, "Authority of Properties Director over Trees on Private Grounds," and 509.21, a Tree Preservation Fund, which we could not read in full.