Tree Removal Permits in Covington, KY

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

Do you need a permit?

It depends on the tree

Covington is the Kentucky city where the answer turns on your slope. The tree chapter disclaims private property in as many words - Section 51.03(A) says "This chapter shall not regulate trees, shrubs or other plants located on private property" - and the zoning code exempts "Tree removal on single and two-family residential properties of trees that are less than twelve inches Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)." But Covington is built on river bluffs, and on any land with a slope of 20 percent or greater, or mapped as a Developmentally Sensitive Area, or inside the Hillside Stability overlay, cutting a tree over eight inches DBH requires a Zoning Permit reviewed with the Urban Forester and the City Civil Engineer. The tree in the right-of-way out front always needs a public arboriculture permit, minimum fee 15 dollars. And the city website and the adopted ordinance flatly contradict each other on whether historic districts cover trees.

Size threshold

Four thresholds, three measurement conventions. Do not merge them. Neighborhood Development Code Section 04.12.3(B): "Protected Trees. For the purposes of this Section, protected trees are those that are healthy, of a native or non-invasive species, and a minimum of eight inches Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)." Section 04.12.3(C) exemption: "Single- and Two-Family Residential Properties. Tree removal on single and two-family residential properties of trees that are less than twelve inches Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)." Hillside trigger, Section 02.05.3(B)(3): "the cutting of trees more than eight inches in diameter at Diameter Breast Height (DBH) may occur without compliance with this Section and Sec. 04.12.3, Tree Preservation" - read with its lead-in, no such cutting may occur without that compliance. Article 158.09 defines Ordinary Maintenance and Repair to include "Pruning trees and shrubbery and removal of trees less than 6 inches in diameter," with NO measurement height stated at all. DBH itself is defined at NDC Section 09.27.3 as "the diameter of a tree four and one-half feet above average ground level." Chapter 51 uses a different unit entirely: "CALIPER. Diameter measurement of the trunk taken six inches above ground level for trees up to and including four-inch caliper size. Measurement shall be taken 12 inches above the ground level for larger trees."

What's protected in Covington

Trees over eight inches DBH on hillsides. NDC Section 02.05.3 applies "to all development (including tree removal) proposed within areas of land that have a slope of 20 percent or greater, are mapped as a Developmentally Sensitive Area, DSA, on the Kenton County Comprehensive Plan, or are mapped within the boundaries of an HS overlay district, as shown on the official district map." Its list of exceptions - roof and gutter repair, interior alterations, utilities in the right-of-way, retroactive building code compliance, and work needed for immediate public health or safety - does not include tree removal.
Public arboriculture, meaning the street trees. Section 51.11(A): "It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity, including a public or private utility and a city, county or state, or any employee thereof, to plant, remove, prune, trim, treat, damage or disrupt public arboriculture, above ground or within the critical root zone, without first having obtained a public arboriculture permit to do so from the Public Works Department of the city."
Protected trees at eight inches DBH on development sites, under NDC Section 04.12.3, with replacement at two diameter inches for every inch lost on trees eight inches or greater and one for one below that.
Landmark trees - but designation on private land carries no restriction. Section 51.09(C): "Preservation of landmark trees on private property shall not be regulated but shall be guided."

How to apply in Covington

1
Work out which of the three regimes you are in: an ordinary flat single- or two-family lot (nothing to file for a tree under twelve inches DBH), a hillside or Developmentally Sensitive Area (Zoning Permit for anything over eight inches DBH), or the right-of-way (public arboriculture permit).
2
For a street tree, fill out the Tree Maintenance/Planting Permit Application. Section 51.11(C)(1)(a) requires it "a minimum of ten business days prior to any proposed work."
3
The form asks for permit type (pruning, removal or planting), owner name and address, phone and email, and a table of trees giving quantity, DBH in inches, species, location, presence of overhead utilities, and the length and width of the tree lawn or tree well, plus the contractor name and ISA certification number and the proposed work date.
4
Check the three agreement boxes: that you have read Chapter 51; that you will follow the Best Management Practices ("When pruning, cuts shall be clean, close to trunk or parent limb, without cutting into branch collar. Protruding stubs or wound dressing usage are prohibited. For tree removals, stumps must be removed and ground."); and that you will "contact Kentucky 811 at 1-800-752-6007 before stump removals to locate underground utilities."
5
Email the application to the Urban Forester at pmoore@covingtonky.gov.
6
Take the separate fee form and the 15 dollar minimum fee to the Finance Department pay window at City Hall, or the after-hours drop box left of the main entrance. The city says the application "will be processed within 5 business days of receiving both of these."
7
Get a second permit if the road or sidewalk will be blocked. The city directs those to the Department of Public Improvements at 859-292-2292.
8
For hillside tree cutting over eight inches DBH, apply for a Zoning Permit under NDC Section 07.21.9. The city states the review "will be completed in consultation with the Covington Urban Forester and the City Civil Engineer." Zoning Permit and Certificate of Appropriateness applications share the same online portal.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: The city's Public Arboriculture Permit Fee form says to submit the form "along with the $15 minimum public permit fee, to the City Finance Department pay window at City Hall, 20 W Pike, between the hours of 8am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday." Note the words "minimum" - the form does not publish a flat rate or a schedule above it. The permit application adds "EACH PERMIT IS LIMITED TO ONE (1) ACTIVITY. THIS PERMIT IS VALID FOR 30 BUSINESS DAYS FROM THE DATE ISSUED." On development sites the NDC sets an in-lieu mitigation rate: "The owner may pay into the in-lieu-fee tree mitigation program, at the cost of $250 per diameter-inch."
Penalties: Section 51.99(A) makes a violation a civil offense subject to the fine schedule at Section 92.99. Section 51.99(C): "As a result of the violation of any provision of this chapter, if the injury, mutilation or death of public arboriculture is caused, the cost of the repair or replacement of such tree, shrub or plant shall be assessed as abatement costs and included in the final civil fine to be borne by the party in violation by the Code Enforcement Board. Replacement value of the public arboriculture shall be determined in accordance with the latest revision of the Guide for Plant Appraisal, published by the International Society of Arboriculture." Section 51.99(B) gives the city a lien "superior to and have priority over all other liens, except state, county, school board and city taxes." The Section 92.99 amounts for a civil offense with no specific fine listed are 100, 150 and 250 dollars uncontested and 200, 300 and 500 dollars contested. NDC Section 08.26.1 routes zoning violations to the same schedule.
Ordinance: Covington Code of Ordinances, Title V (Public Works), Chapter 51 - Urban Forestry, Sections 51.01 through 51.13 and 51.99, adopted in full by Ordinance O-20-20, passed September 15, 2020. Code current through Ordinance O-06-2026, passed June 23, 2026 (Supplement 2026 S-10). The zoning rules are in the Neighborhood Development Code, adopted by reference at Code Section 158.01 and amended repeatedly - the citation chain runs from Ord. O-37-06 (8-15-2006) through Ord. O-22-20 (9-22-2020) and sixteen further ordinances to Ord. O-03-2026, passed March 10, 2026. NDC pages carry "(Ord. No. O-22-20, 09/22/2020)" with an effective date of 10/15/2020; Section 07.21.9 (Zoning Permit) shows Ord. No. O-13-21, 09/28/2021, effective 11/18/2025. The Historic Covington Design Guidelines are adopted at Code Section 159.01 by Ordinance O-04-21, passed March 9, 2021, and also appear as NDC Appendix A.

Worth knowing

The hillside rule is the practical trap, and it does not depend on being inside a drawn overlay. Twenty percent slope or Developmentally Sensitive Area mapping is enough. Covington's bluff neighborhoods are exactly where a homeowner would assume no rule applies.
Covington has seven LOCAL Historic Preservation Overlays per Design Guidelines Section 1.1: MainStrasse, Seminary Square, Pike Street, Downtown Commercial, Mutter Gottes, Licking Riverside and Ohio Riverside. Wallace Woods, Helentown and Austinburg are among the city's seventeen NATIONAL REGISTER districts, which carry no local Certificate of Appropriateness authority. The two lists are not the same and are commonly conflated.
The review board was renamed. The Urban Design Review Board is now the Board of Architectural Review and Development, or BOARD, under NDC Section 06.19.3. Routine Certificates of Appropriateness are issued by the Historic Preservation Officer; BOARD handles demolition, new principal structures, larger additions and appeals.
Landmark Tree designation on private property is ceremonial. Nominating your tree does not lock it up.
Contractor-side regulation exists but only for public trees. Section 51.12 requires a city business license, liability insurance on file and ISA certification for contractors working on public arboriculture. All nineteen chapters of Title XI (Business Regulations) were checked and there is no tree-service licensing chapter and no registration requirement for contractors working purely on private trees.
The duty runs the other way for hazards. Section 51.13(A) preserves the private owner's duty "to keep any tree, shrub or other plant on or over his or her property... in such condition as to prevent it from constituting a hazard or public nuisance," and Section 51.99(D) lets the city abate and lien. The city's stated posture is that it gets involved only where the tree threatens safety or imminent property damage.
Covington declines to referee neighbor tree disputes, saying it encourages neighbors to work them out.
The Urban Forestry Board is a volunteer body under Section 51.05 that meets monthly, and Covington is both a Tree City USA and a Tree City of the World with a public tree inventory map covering more than 5,000 right-of-way and park trees.
There is no seasonal or oak wilt pruning prohibition. Chapter 51 and the entire NDC were searched: zero hits for "oak," and "pruning" appears only in the Ordinary Maintenance definition and the Certificate of Appropriateness exemption. Kentucky is oak wilt country, but Covington has not legislated a pruning window.
Some city handouts are superseded and still circulating. The city's Tree measurements handout still cites "Section 94.58 LANDMARK TREE PROGRAM" and the Parks and Recreation Department; the current provision is Section 51.09 administered by Public Works. Treat that PDF as stale on citations.

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 Certificate of Appropriateness is required to remove a tree in a local historic overlay. The city website says yes, in as many words: "A Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required before any exterior alteration or tree removal within a Historic Preservation Overlay or within the 12th Street Corridor Redevelopment Plan." The adopted Historic Covington Design Guidelines say no, also in as many words: "Although tree removal and tree planting does not require a Certificate of Appropriateness, the City of Covington regulates trees through the following ordinances." And NDC Section 07.21.3(D) exempts "Removal, planting, or pruning of trees, vegetable and flower gardens, shrubs, and similar plants where alterations to buildings are not required." The trigger list at Section 07.21.3 does not mention trees. Both positions are recorded here rather than resolved. Call Historic Preservation at 859-292-2171 before cutting in an overlay.
— The city's Urban Forestry page also states that private trees are unregulated "unless they're in a historic overlay zone or on a hillside." The hillside half is ordinance-backed. The historic half conflicts with the adopted guidelines above.
— The fee for a Zoning Permit covering hillside tree cutting. Only the 15 dollar minimum public arboriculture fee is published.
— What happens on a flat single- or two-family lot outside all overlays when the tree is twelve inches DBH or larger. The NDC exemption covers trees under twelve inches, but the operative duties of Section 04.12.3 are written for development sites and Zoning Permit applicants, so the code does not clearly say what fills that gap.
— Whether the six-inch "ordinary maintenance" carve-out can be invoked inside a Hillside Stability overlay, where the threshold is eight inches DBH. The two provisions are in tension and neither resolves the other.
— The measurement height for that six-inch threshold. The code says only "in diameter."
— Which Covington parcels actually fall inside the Hillside Stability overlay or are mapped as Developmentally Sensitive Areas. The official district map and the Kenton County Comprehensive Plan mapping were not retrieved.
— The correct current phone number for the Urban Forester. The city web page says (859) 380-5944 and the city's own fee form says 859-292-2300. Both are printed above.
— A drafting error, reported as written rather than silently corrected: Section 51.02 defines the critical root zone using a trunk diameter "measured at four and one-half inches above the ground line," while the NDC ties the same concept to DBH at four and one-half FEET. Almost certainly a scrivener's error.
— Whether Kenton County subdivision regulations impose any separate tree removal duty on an existing platted residential lot.

Sources

Who to contact in Covington

Division of Urban Forestry, City of Covington Public Works Department. Urban Forester: Patrick Moore. Historic district questions go instead to the Historic Preservation Office in Economic Development (Kaitlin Bryan, Regulatory Services Manager and Historic Preservation Specialist). Hazardous and neighbor trees go to Code Enforcement in Neighborhood Services.

The city publishes two different numbers for the Urban Forester and both are given here: (859) 380-5944 on the Urban Forestry web page, and 859-292-2300 on the city's own permit fee form. Public Works main: (859) 292-2292. Historic Preservation: 859-292-2171. City Hall: (859) 292-2160. pmoore@covingtonky.gov for Urban Forestry. publicworks@covingtonky.gov. permit@covingtonky.gov for historic preservation. codeenforcement@covingtonky.gov. Official page

1730 Russell Street, Covington, KY 41011 (Public Works and Urban Forestry). City Hall: 20 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011.

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Size threshold

What's protected in Covington

Trees over eight inches DBH on hillsides. NDC Section 02.05.3 applies "to all development (including tree removal) proposed within areas of land that have a slope of 20 percent or greater, are mapped as a Developmentally Sensitive Area, DSA, on the Kenton County Comprehensive Plan, or are mapped within the boundaries of an HS overlay district, as shown on the official district map." Its list of exceptions - roof and gutter repair, interior alterations, utilities in the right-of-way, retroactive building code compliance, and work needed for immediate public health or safety - does not include tree removal.

Public arboriculture, meaning the street trees. Section 51.11(A): "It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity, including a public or private utility and a city, county or state, or any employee thereof, to plant, remove, prune, trim, treat, damage or disrupt public arboriculture, above ground or within the critical root zone, without first having obtained a public arboriculture permit to do so from the Public Works Department of the city."

Protected trees at eight inches DBH on development sites, under NDC Section 04.12.3, with replacement at two diameter inches for every inch lost on trees eight inches or greater and one for one below that.

Landmark trees - but designation on private land carries no restriction. Section 51.09(C): "Preservation of landmark trees on private property shall not be regulated but shall be guided."

How to apply in Covington

1
Work out which of the three regimes you are in: an ordinary flat single- or two-family lot (nothing to file for a tree under twelve inches DBH), a hillside or Developmentally Sensitive Area (Zoning Permit for anything over eight inches DBH), or the right-of-way (public arboriculture permit).
2
For a street tree, fill out the Tree Maintenance/Planting Permit Application. Section 51.11(C)(1)(a) requires it "a minimum of ten business days prior to any proposed work."
3
The form asks for permit type (pruning, removal or planting), owner name and address, phone and email, and a table of trees giving quantity, DBH in inches, species, location, presence of overhead utilities, and the length and width of the tree lawn or tree well, plus the contractor name and ISA certification number and the proposed work date.
4
Check the three agreement boxes: that you have read Chapter 51; that you will follow the Best Management Practices ("When pruning, cuts shall be clean, close to trunk or parent limb, without cutting into branch collar. Protruding stubs or wound dressing usage are prohibited. For tree removals, stumps must be removed and ground."); and that you will "contact Kentucky 811 at 1-800-752-6007 before stump removals to locate underground utilities."
5
Email the application to the Urban Forester at pmoore@covingtonky.gov.
6
Take the separate fee form and the 15 dollar minimum fee to the Finance Department pay window at City Hall, or the after-hours drop box left of the main entrance. The city says the application "will be processed within 5 business days of receiving both of these."
7
Get a second permit if the road or sidewalk will be blocked. The city directs those to the Department of Public Improvements at 859-292-2292.
8
For hillside tree cutting over eight inches DBH, apply for a Zoning Permit under NDC Section 07.21.9. The city states the review "will be completed in consultation with the Covington Urban Forester and the City Civil Engineer." Zoning Permit and Certificate of Appropriateness applications share the same online portal.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

The city's Public Arboriculture Permit Fee form says to submit the form "along with the $15 minimum public permit fee, to the City Finance Department pay window at City Hall, 20 W Pike, between the hours of 8am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday." Note the words "minimum" - the form does not publish a flat rate or a schedule above it. The permit application adds "EACH PERMIT IS LIMITED TO ONE (1) ACTIVITY. THIS PERMIT IS VALID FOR 30 BUSINESS DAYS FROM THE DATE ISSUED." On development sites the NDC sets an in-lieu mitigation rate: "The owner may pay into the in-lieu-fee tree mitigation program, at the cost of $250 per diameter-inch."

Penalties

Section 51.99(A) makes a violation a civil offense subject to the fine schedule at Section 92.99. Section 51.99(C): "As a result of the violation of any provision of this chapter, if the injury, mutilation or death of public arboriculture is caused, the cost of the repair or replacement of such tree, shrub or plant shall be assessed as abatement costs and included in the final civil fine to be borne by the party in violation by the Code Enforcement Board. Replacement value of the public arboriculture shall be determined in accordance with the latest revision of the Guide for Plant Appraisal, published by the International Society of Arboriculture." Section 51.99(B) gives the city a lien "superior to and have priority over all other liens, except state, county, school board and city taxes." The Section 92.99 amounts for a civil offense with no specific fine listed are 100, 150 and 250 dollars uncontested and 200, 300 and 500 dollars contested. NDC Section 08.26.1 routes zoning violations to the same schedule.

Ordinance

Covington Code of Ordinances, Title V (Public Works), Chapter 51 - Urban Forestry, Sections 51.01 through 51.13 and 51.99, adopted in full by Ordinance O-20-20, passed September 15, 2020. Code current through Ordinance O-06-2026, passed June 23, 2026 (Supplement 2026 S-10). The zoning rules are in the Neighborhood Development Code, adopted by reference at Code Section 158.01 and amended repeatedly - the citation chain runs from Ord. O-37-06 (8-15-2006) through Ord. O-22-20 (9-22-2020) and sixteen further ordinances to Ord. O-03-2026, passed March 10, 2026. NDC pages carry "(Ord. No. O-22-20, 09/22/2020)" with an effective date of 10/15/2020; Section 07.21.9 (Zoning Permit) shows Ord. No. O-13-21, 09/28/2021, effective 11/18/2025. The Historic Covington Design Guidelines are adopted at Code Section 159.01 by Ordinance O-04-21, passed March 9, 2021, and also appear as NDC Appendix A.

Worth knowing

The hillside rule is the practical trap, and it does not depend on being inside a drawn overlay. Twenty percent slope or Developmentally Sensitive Area mapping is enough. Covington's bluff neighborhoods are exactly where a homeowner would assume no rule applies.
Covington has seven LOCAL Historic Preservation Overlays per Design Guidelines Section 1.1: MainStrasse, Seminary Square, Pike Street, Downtown Commercial, Mutter Gottes, Licking Riverside and Ohio Riverside. Wallace Woods, Helentown and Austinburg are among the city's seventeen NATIONAL REGISTER districts, which carry no local Certificate of Appropriateness authority. The two lists are not the same and are commonly conflated.
The review board was renamed. The Urban Design Review Board is now the Board of Architectural Review and Development, or BOARD, under NDC Section 06.19.3. Routine Certificates of Appropriateness are issued by the Historic Preservation Officer; BOARD handles demolition, new principal structures, larger additions and appeals.
Landmark Tree designation on private property is ceremonial. Nominating your tree does not lock it up.
Contractor-side regulation exists but only for public trees. Section 51.12 requires a city business license, liability insurance on file and ISA certification for contractors working on public arboriculture. All nineteen chapters of Title XI (Business Regulations) were checked and there is no tree-service licensing chapter and no registration requirement for contractors working purely on private trees.
The duty runs the other way for hazards. Section 51.13(A) preserves the private owner's duty "to keep any tree, shrub or other plant on or over his or her property... in such condition as to prevent it from constituting a hazard or public nuisance," and Section 51.99(D) lets the city abate and lien. The city's stated posture is that it gets involved only where the tree threatens safety or imminent property damage.
Covington declines to referee neighbor tree disputes, saying it encourages neighbors to work them out.
The Urban Forestry Board is a volunteer body under Section 51.05 that meets monthly, and Covington is both a Tree City USA and a Tree City of the World with a public tree inventory map covering more than 5,000 right-of-way and park trees.
There is no seasonal or oak wilt pruning prohibition. Chapter 51 and the entire NDC were searched: zero hits for "oak," and "pruning" appears only in the Ordinary Maintenance definition and the Certificate of Appropriateness exemption. Kentucky is oak wilt country, but Covington has not legislated a pruning window.
Some city handouts are superseded and still circulating. The city's Tree measurements handout still cites "Section 94.58 LANDMARK TREE PROGRAM" and the Parks and Recreation Department; the current provision is Section 51.09 administered by Public Works. Treat that PDF as stale on citations.

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 Certificate of Appropriateness is required to remove a tree in a local historic overlay. The city website says yes, in as many words: "A Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required before any exterior alteration or tree removal within a Historic Preservation Overlay or within the 12th Street Corridor Redevelopment Plan." The adopted Historic Covington Design Guidelines say no, also in as many words: "Although tree removal and tree planting does not require a Certificate of Appropriateness, the City of Covington regulates trees through the following ordinances." And NDC Section 07.21.3(D) exempts "Removal, planting, or pruning of trees, vegetable and flower gardens, shrubs, and similar plants where alterations to buildings are not required." The trigger list at Section 07.21.3 does not mention trees. Both positions are recorded here rather than resolved. Call Historic Preservation at 859-292-2171 before cutting in an overlay.
— The city's Urban Forestry page also states that private trees are unregulated "unless they're in a historic overlay zone or on a hillside." The hillside half is ordinance-backed. The historic half conflicts with the adopted guidelines above.
— The fee for a Zoning Permit covering hillside tree cutting. Only the 15 dollar minimum public arboriculture fee is published.
— What happens on a flat single- or two-family lot outside all overlays when the tree is twelve inches DBH or larger. The NDC exemption covers trees under twelve inches, but the operative duties of Section 04.12.3 are written for development sites and Zoning Permit applicants, so the code does not clearly say what fills that gap.
— Whether the six-inch "ordinary maintenance" carve-out can be invoked inside a Hillside Stability overlay, where the threshold is eight inches DBH. The two provisions are in tension and neither resolves the other.
— The measurement height for that six-inch threshold. The code says only "in diameter."
— Which Covington parcels actually fall inside the Hillside Stability overlay or are mapped as Developmentally Sensitive Areas. The official district map and the Kenton County Comprehensive Plan mapping were not retrieved.
— The correct current phone number for the Urban Forester. The city web page says (859) 380-5944 and the city's own fee form says 859-292-2300. Both are printed above.
— A drafting error, reported as written rather than silently corrected: Section 51.02 defines the critical root zone using a trunk diameter "measured at four and one-half inches above the ground line," while the NDC ties the same concept to DBH at four and one-half FEET. Almost certainly a scrivener's error.
— Whether Kenton County subdivision regulations impose any separate tree removal duty on an existing platted residential lot.