Tree Removal Permits in Decatur, AL

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

Do you need a permit?

No permit required for most private trees

If the tree is inside your property lines on a single-family residential lot in Decatur, you do not need a city permit to remove it, at any size, species or condition. Decatur has a real and fairly new tree ordinance, rewritten in September 2023, but it regulates trees the city owns - street trees, park trees and anything in dedicated right-of-way - and it states outright that its private-property goal is public education rather than permitting. The one tree rule in the zoning code is a landscaping requirement for commercial off-street parking that expressly excludes single-family residential districts. The catch is the strip between your sidewalk and the street: even though it fronts your house, that is city right-of-way, you are forbidden to prune those trees yourself, and removing one requires tree board approval at a public meeting. Two things do bind you on your own lot - you have an affirmative duty to take down a dead or hazardous tree, and the tree service you hire must hold a Decatur business license.

Size threshold

None exists for private-property removal. No diameter, caliper, height or lot-size figure anywhere in the code requires a homeowner to get permission before cutting a tree on their own lot. Decatur's convention is also unusual in that there is no DBH-at-four-and-a-half-feet measurement anywhere in the code. It separates tree from shrub by MATURE HEIGHT - Section 2-423: "Tree. A woody plant, living more than one (1) year, obtaining twelve (12) feet or more in height at maturity, and that is unbranched near the ground," against "Shrub. A woody plant, living more than one (1) year, obtaining less than twelve (12) feet in height at maturity, and that is usually branched near the ground." Where it does measure a trunk, it uses a sliding caliper point - Section 25-16(9)(ii): "Caliper: Trunk diameter of a tree used in landscaping, measured six (6) inches above ground for trees up to four (4) inch caliper and twelve (12) inches above ground for larger trees."

What's protected in Decatur

City trees and street trees. Section 2-423: "City tree/shrub. Any tree/shrub on property owned by the city or located in dedicated city right-of-way." And "Street trees. The trees, shrubs, bushes, and all other woody vegetation on land lying between property lines, in public places, on either side of all the streets, avenues, or ways within the city. Street trees include new plantings that are not authorized by the city."
Public trees generally. Section 2-430: "Existing public trees shall be protected to the extent that it is possible and feasible. If removed they will be replaced where practical." Section 2-434: "It shall be a violation of the provisions of this article for any person to abuse, destroy or mutilate any city owned tree, plant or shrub."
Planting in a public place, which also needs permission. Section 2-432(a)(1): "It shall be unlawful for any person to plant any tree or shrub in any public street or parkway or other public place without first securing written permission from the forestry program."
Hazardous plants on private property, protected in the sense that you must remove them. Chapter 16 defines a "Hazardous plant nuisance" as "trees, shrubs, ornamental or non-ornamental plant growth, growing or standing on private property that is dead, damaged, deteriorated, decayed or has otherwise become hazardous for any reason that could pose a danger to the property on which it is located, any adjacent property, whether public or private, or to the public in general, by danger of falling, splitting, uprooting, or shedding limbs, or any other reason determined to be a hazard."

How to apply in Decatur

1
For a tree on your own private lot there is no application. These steps apply only to a tree in the public right-of-way or on public property.
2
Section 2-432(a)(1): "Applications for a permit are available at the parks and recreation maintenance office and shall be submitted to the forestry program." It is an in-person pickup; there is no online channel.
3
Section 2-432(b)(2): "Application for authorization to remove and replace trees or woodlands shall state the reasons and circumstances necessitating the removal or cutting."
4
Name your replacement tree. The same subsection requires that "An application that meets the criteria for removal and replacement shall include a replacement tree from the current City of Decatur, Alabama Tree List in the Decatur Design Standards."
5
The decision is made in public, not over the counter. "The tree board shall review and rule upon the request to remove and replace a tree in a duly convened public meeting. The board may approve, approve with conditions or deny the tree removal request." The board meets "not less than four (4) times each calendar year" under Section 2-441, so timing matters.
6
Know the three grounds. Section 2-432(b)(3) allows removal where "a. The tree is diseased, damaged or dying to such an extent that a professional arborist concludes it must be removed; b. The tree poses a significant risk of harm to people or property; or c. The tree is causing significant property damage in the form of cracked or heaved building foundations, roofs, sidewalks, curbs, underground utilities, or other permanent structures."
7
If approved, you pay for all of it. "If approved, the permit applicant shall be responsible for all costs of tree removal and replacement, including installation and review by the city arborist, and ongoing maintenance."
8
To appeal, Section 2-432(b)(4) gives you 14 days to write to City Council through the City Clerk. Appeals of forestry program actions go to the tree board, also within 14 days, under Section 2-427.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: No fee applies to a private-lot homeowner because no permit exists. For the right-of-way permit that does exist, the amount is not published anywhere. Section 2-423 defines it and delegates the number: "Tree removal and replacement permit fee. A fee paid for a removal and replacement permit, as established by city council adoption." The Planning Department Fee Schedule adopted November 7, 2022 by Council Resolution No. 22-313 lists no tree fee, and the construction permit page is valuation-based building fees only.
Penalties: Section 2-428: "Any person, partnership, firm, corporation, or other entity who violates any provision of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the city jail for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment. All such violations which are of a continuing nature shall constitute a separate offense for each day of such continuance. Any violation of this article shall also constitute a public nuisance and may be enjoined and abated as provided by law." The section continues with the part that bites hardest: "In addition the entity violating this article shall be responsible and required to pay for the cost of repairs, the replacement of trees or other damages in the right-of-way caused by the violation. If the entity does not promptly pay those required costs, the city will take the necessary action to place a lien against the entity's property."
Ordinance: Code of Decatur, Chapter 2, Article XIX - Urban Forestry Ordinance, Sections 2-421 through 2-449. The Municode editor's note records the rewrite: "Ord. No. 23-4567, Section 1, adopted Sep. 18, 2023, amended Art. XIX in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former Art. XIX, Sections 2-421-2-437, pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 10-4055, Section 2, adopted Jan. 3, 2011." So Decatur has had a tree ordinance since January 2011 and completely replaced it in September 2023. Zoning landscaping sits at Chapter 25, Section 25-16(9), deriving from Code 1956 Section 27-16 and amended by Ord. No. 85-2426 (2-4-85), Ord. No. 88-2745 (7-11-88), Ord. No. 01-3640 (3-5-01), Ord. No. 02-3741 (12-2-02), Ord. No. 04-3806 (7-12-04) and Ord. No. 07-3926 (1-7-08). Historic preservation is Ord. No. 90-2882A, Section 1, adopted February 5, 1990, with the historic district overlay created by Ord. No. 90-2942, Section 2, November 5, 1990. CURRENCY WARNING: the code is codified only through Ordinance No. 24-4600, adopted December 16, 2024 (Supp. No. 37), posted online April 17, 2025 - roughly a twenty-month codification gap.

Worth knowing

The scope clause that answers the question, Section 2-432(b)(1)a: "Removal of any tree located on public property or along public streets is prohibited without first being approved by the tree board, unless immediate removal or cutting is necessary for the immediate protection of the public or private property." And Section 2-422 states the private-property goal as education only, listing among the article's purposes "Educate the general public in an effort to encourage the accomplishment of the above listed goals on private property."
The ordinance goes out of its way to disclaim creating new private duties. Section 2-425: "Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to impose any additional liability upon this city, its officers or employees, nor to create any additional liability for the owner of any private property with regard to the duty to keep any tree, shrub or plant on his property or under his control in such condition as to prevent it from constituting a hazard."
You may not touch the tree in the right-of-way in front of your own house, not even to prune it. Section 2-424(b): "Owners of property that abut city rights-of-way where street trees are located within the public right-of-way may not maintain, care for, or prune such street trees. However, when necessary and allowed by a permit duly issued pursuant to this chapter, such homeowner may remove and replace street trees to the extent authorized in the permit."
Decatur publishes an unusual numeric triage rule for right-of-way trees. Section 2-427: "Scale ROW is 1-10 with 10 being the highest priority for removal. Trees go on a cut list at 7 or above. If a tree is rated at a 7 or above and a citizen does not want it cut and removed, they can appeal to the tree board for its determination. If the tree is rated at a 7 or lower and a citizen wants the tree removed for other reasons, they can appeal to the tree board for its determination."
Your tree service needs a Decatur business license, and the schedule names tree work explicitly. Section 14-38, item 26, covers specialty contractors and adds: "This schedule shall also include any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of tree removal or trimming." Section 14-23 makes unlicensed operation unlawful. Verify at (256) 341-4546.
The heavier insurance rule applies only to work on city trees, so do not expect it to protect you on a back yard job. Section 2-433 requires "public liability and property damage insurance in the minimum amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000.00)" filed with the city clerk plus workers compensation, and provides that "All tree work will be performed under the direct supervision of a qualified arborist" - but the section is scoped to "the business of pruning, trimming, or removing city trees."
The city will not haul your tree away. Section 19-7: "Building debris, dirt, stumps and tree trunks, limbs and branches four (4) inches or larger in diameter, will not be removed by the sanitation department or the city's contractor. The owner must remove this waste privately." Section 19-9 puts the duty on the contractor: "It shall be the responsibility of all fence companies, tree surgeons, nurseries, and landscape contractors or any individual or company doing work on private property to remove from premises all residue and rubbish resulting from said work." Smaller material set out as bulky waste must be "cut in lengths not exceeding five (5) feet in length with protruding branches trimmed," and no bundle or limb may be "heavier than seventy-five (75) pounds."
A private tree that blocks a street can be ordered down and billed to you. Section 2-436 declares such a tree a public nuisance, and Section 2-437 provides that "The failure of the property owner to remove such tree after fifteen (15) days' notice shall be deemed a violation and the forestry program may then remove or trim such tree and assess the cost thereof against the property."
The hazardous plant nuisance duty has real exemptions worth knowing: property "which is in its natural condition" and certain remote parcels 100 or more feet from any dwelling or commercial enterprise. It is administered by the community preservation board under Section 7-291.
The tree board has five members appointed by City Council to two-year terms, and Section 2-439 makes residents of Morgan County or Limestone County eligible as well as residents of Decatur.
Several chapters that sound relevant contain nothing about trees, which is itself useful: Chapter 20 (Streets and Sidewalks) has zero tree provisions, Chapter 22 (Traffic) has none, Chapter 7 (Buildings) has no land-disturbance, grading or clearing permit at all, and the floodplain management article has no vegetation-removal rule. The subdivision regulations of September 2025 mention trees only in definitions and impose no tree survey, preservation requirement or removal permit.

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.

— Any ordinance adopted after December 16, 2024. This is the biggest gap. The code is codified only through Ord. No. 24-4600 of that date, leaving roughly a twenty-month window, and the city's public meeting portal only launched in May 2026 so it holds no historical ordinance archive. A private-property tree ordinance could in principle have been adopted in 2025 or 2026 without appearing in any reachable source. This is judged unlikely given the September 2023 rewrite and the absence of any tree permit on the city's own permits index, but it cannot be ruled out.
— A contradiction in the city's own publishing, recorded rather than resolved. The Planning Department page labels a link "Zoning Ordinance" and points it at a 2025 zoning rewrite PDF whose own running footer reads "Decatur, Alabama Zoning Ordinance | Public Hearing Draft | November 2023" with a cover marked Rev. 7.14.2025, while the codified law remains Municode Chapter 25. It does not change the answer either way: the draft exempts "Development of a single-family detached or duplex dwelling unit on a single lot" from all landscaping standards, contains no tree removal permit in its permit table, and defines no protected tree category.
— Whether removing a tree on private property inside a designated historic district requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. This is a genuine unresolved ambiguity. Section 18-81 requires a COA before any "material change in the exterior appearance," and Section 18-22 defines that to include a change affecting any "landscape feature," with exterior environmental features meaning "All those aspects of the landscape or the development of a site which affect the historical character of the property." Trees are never named. The Section 18-86 detailed design review guidelines, which would settle it, are described as available through the building department and are not online. If your lot is in a Decatur historic district, call the Building Department at (256) 341-4570 before cutting.
— The "Decatur Design Standards" and the "City of Decatur, Alabama Tree List." Both are referenced by Section 2-432 as governing species and replacement selection, and neither is published on the city website. This affects right-of-way replacement plantings only.
— What Alabama enabling authority the tree ordinance rests on. Article XIX carries no state law reference annotation, unlike Section 14-23 which cites Code of Ala. 1975, Section 11-51-93. In a weak-home-rule state that is a notable silence, and the ordinance appears to rest on unstated general police power.
— The right-of-way tree removal permit fee amount, which Section 2-423 delegates to council adoption and which appears in no published fee schedule.
— Federal and state jurisdiction on Tennessee River frontage, which was not examined and is outside a city code review. Decatur sits on the river next to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, and land along TVA reservoirs can carry TVA shoreline vegetation management obligations and Section 26a permitting entirely separate from city law. No city riparian buffer rule was found, but if your lot fronts the river, no city permit does not mean no permit.
— HOA and private covenants, which are outside government entirely and not discoverable from public code. A subdivision covenant can restrict tree removal where the city does not.

Sources

Who to contact in Decatur

Parks and Recreation Department, City of Decatur, which houses the forestry program. Section 2-423 places the forestry program inside Parks and Recreation together with Community Development, and Section 2-432(a)(1) says permit applications "are available at the parks and recreation maintenance office." There is no standalone tree department and no published tree board phone line.

(256) 341-4760 is the Parks and Recreation line and also the Park Maintenance line - the city lists the same number for both, and Park Maintenance is the one you want for trees; fax is (256) 341-4767. (256) 341-4570 is the Building Department and Residential Permits, the right call to confirm that no permit is needed for work on your own lot; Commercial Permits is (256) 341-4583. (256) 341-4546 is the Revenue Department, and the city's own storm-recovery guidance tells residents to "PLEASE verify that anyone performing work on your home is licensed through the City of Decatur by calling the Revenue Department at (256) 341-4546." Decatur Utilities, for trees on lines, is (256) 552-1400. Building Department hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. building@decatur-al.gov for the Building Department; revenueforms@decatur-al.gov for Revenue. No email is published for Parks and Recreation. Official page

Park Maintenance: 1516 Central Parkway, Decatur, AL 35601; mailing P.O. Box 1315, Decatur, AL 35602. Building Department: 402 Lee Street NE, Fourth Floor, Decatur, AL 35601.

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Size threshold

What's protected in Decatur

City trees and street trees. Section 2-423: "City tree/shrub. Any tree/shrub on property owned by the city or located in dedicated city right-of-way." And "Street trees. The trees, shrubs, bushes, and all other woody vegetation on land lying between property lines, in public places, on either side of all the streets, avenues, or ways within the city. Street trees include new plantings that are not authorized by the city."

Public trees generally. Section 2-430: "Existing public trees shall be protected to the extent that it is possible and feasible. If removed they will be replaced where practical." Section 2-434: "It shall be a violation of the provisions of this article for any person to abuse, destroy or mutilate any city owned tree, plant or shrub."

Planting in a public place, which also needs permission. Section 2-432(a)(1): "It shall be unlawful for any person to plant any tree or shrub in any public street or parkway or other public place without first securing written permission from the forestry program."

Hazardous plants on private property, protected in the sense that you must remove them. Chapter 16 defines a "Hazardous plant nuisance" as "trees, shrubs, ornamental or non-ornamental plant growth, growing or standing on private property that is dead, damaged, deteriorated, decayed or has otherwise become hazardous for any reason that could pose a danger to the property on which it is located, any adjacent property, whether public or private, or to the public in general, by danger of falling, splitting, uprooting, or shedding limbs, or any other reason determined to be a hazard."

How to apply in Decatur

1
For a tree on your own private lot there is no application. These steps apply only to a tree in the public right-of-way or on public property.
2
Section 2-432(a)(1): "Applications for a permit are available at the parks and recreation maintenance office and shall be submitted to the forestry program." It is an in-person pickup; there is no online channel.
3
Section 2-432(b)(2): "Application for authorization to remove and replace trees or woodlands shall state the reasons and circumstances necessitating the removal or cutting."
4
Name your replacement tree. The same subsection requires that "An application that meets the criteria for removal and replacement shall include a replacement tree from the current City of Decatur, Alabama Tree List in the Decatur Design Standards."
5
The decision is made in public, not over the counter. "The tree board shall review and rule upon the request to remove and replace a tree in a duly convened public meeting. The board may approve, approve with conditions or deny the tree removal request." The board meets "not less than four (4) times each calendar year" under Section 2-441, so timing matters.
6
Know the three grounds. Section 2-432(b)(3) allows removal where "a. The tree is diseased, damaged or dying to such an extent that a professional arborist concludes it must be removed; b. The tree poses a significant risk of harm to people or property; or c. The tree is causing significant property damage in the form of cracked or heaved building foundations, roofs, sidewalks, curbs, underground utilities, or other permanent structures."
7
If approved, you pay for all of it. "If approved, the permit applicant shall be responsible for all costs of tree removal and replacement, including installation and review by the city arborist, and ongoing maintenance."
8
To appeal, Section 2-432(b)(4) gives you 14 days to write to City Council through the City Clerk. Appeals of forestry program actions go to the tree board, also within 14 days, under Section 2-427.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

No fee applies to a private-lot homeowner because no permit exists. For the right-of-way permit that does exist, the amount is not published anywhere. Section 2-423 defines it and delegates the number: "Tree removal and replacement permit fee. A fee paid for a removal and replacement permit, as established by city council adoption." The Planning Department Fee Schedule adopted November 7, 2022 by Council Resolution No. 22-313 lists no tree fee, and the construction permit page is valuation-based building fees only.

Penalties

Section 2-428: "Any person, partnership, firm, corporation, or other entity who violates any provision of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the city jail for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment. All such violations which are of a continuing nature shall constitute a separate offense for each day of such continuance. Any violation of this article shall also constitute a public nuisance and may be enjoined and abated as provided by law." The section continues with the part that bites hardest: "In addition the entity violating this article shall be responsible and required to pay for the cost of repairs, the replacement of trees or other damages in the right-of-way caused by the violation. If the entity does not promptly pay those required costs, the city will take the necessary action to place a lien against the entity's property."

Ordinance

Code of Decatur, Chapter 2, Article XIX - Urban Forestry Ordinance, Sections 2-421 through 2-449. The Municode editor's note records the rewrite: "Ord. No. 23-4567, Section 1, adopted Sep. 18, 2023, amended Art. XIX in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former Art. XIX, Sections 2-421-2-437, pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 10-4055, Section 2, adopted Jan. 3, 2011." So Decatur has had a tree ordinance since January 2011 and completely replaced it in September 2023. Zoning landscaping sits at Chapter 25, Section 25-16(9), deriving from Code 1956 Section 27-16 and amended by Ord. No. 85-2426 (2-4-85), Ord. No. 88-2745 (7-11-88), Ord. No. 01-3640 (3-5-01), Ord. No. 02-3741 (12-2-02), Ord. No. 04-3806 (7-12-04) and Ord. No. 07-3926 (1-7-08). Historic preservation is Ord. No. 90-2882A, Section 1, adopted February 5, 1990, with the historic district overlay created by Ord. No. 90-2942, Section 2, November 5, 1990. CURRENCY WARNING: the code is codified only through Ordinance No. 24-4600, adopted December 16, 2024 (Supp. No. 37), posted online April 17, 2025 - roughly a twenty-month codification gap.

Worth knowing

The scope clause that answers the question, Section 2-432(b)(1)a: "Removal of any tree located on public property or along public streets is prohibited without first being approved by the tree board, unless immediate removal or cutting is necessary for the immediate protection of the public or private property." And Section 2-422 states the private-property goal as education only, listing among the article's purposes "Educate the general public in an effort to encourage the accomplishment of the above listed goals on private property."
The ordinance goes out of its way to disclaim creating new private duties. Section 2-425: "Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to impose any additional liability upon this city, its officers or employees, nor to create any additional liability for the owner of any private property with regard to the duty to keep any tree, shrub or plant on his property or under his control in such condition as to prevent it from constituting a hazard."
You may not touch the tree in the right-of-way in front of your own house, not even to prune it. Section 2-424(b): "Owners of property that abut city rights-of-way where street trees are located within the public right-of-way may not maintain, care for, or prune such street trees. However, when necessary and allowed by a permit duly issued pursuant to this chapter, such homeowner may remove and replace street trees to the extent authorized in the permit."
Decatur publishes an unusual numeric triage rule for right-of-way trees. Section 2-427: "Scale ROW is 1-10 with 10 being the highest priority for removal. Trees go on a cut list at 7 or above. If a tree is rated at a 7 or above and a citizen does not want it cut and removed, they can appeal to the tree board for its determination. If the tree is rated at a 7 or lower and a citizen wants the tree removed for other reasons, they can appeal to the tree board for its determination."
Your tree service needs a Decatur business license, and the schedule names tree work explicitly. Section 14-38, item 26, covers specialty contractors and adds: "This schedule shall also include any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of tree removal or trimming." Section 14-23 makes unlicensed operation unlawful. Verify at (256) 341-4546.
The heavier insurance rule applies only to work on city trees, so do not expect it to protect you on a back yard job. Section 2-433 requires "public liability and property damage insurance in the minimum amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000.00)" filed with the city clerk plus workers compensation, and provides that "All tree work will be performed under the direct supervision of a qualified arborist" - but the section is scoped to "the business of pruning, trimming, or removing city trees."
The city will not haul your tree away. Section 19-7: "Building debris, dirt, stumps and tree trunks, limbs and branches four (4) inches or larger in diameter, will not be removed by the sanitation department or the city's contractor. The owner must remove this waste privately." Section 19-9 puts the duty on the contractor: "It shall be the responsibility of all fence companies, tree surgeons, nurseries, and landscape contractors or any individual or company doing work on private property to remove from premises all residue and rubbish resulting from said work." Smaller material set out as bulky waste must be "cut in lengths not exceeding five (5) feet in length with protruding branches trimmed," and no bundle or limb may be "heavier than seventy-five (75) pounds."
A private tree that blocks a street can be ordered down and billed to you. Section 2-436 declares such a tree a public nuisance, and Section 2-437 provides that "The failure of the property owner to remove such tree after fifteen (15) days' notice shall be deemed a violation and the forestry program may then remove or trim such tree and assess the cost thereof against the property."
The hazardous plant nuisance duty has real exemptions worth knowing: property "which is in its natural condition" and certain remote parcels 100 or more feet from any dwelling or commercial enterprise. It is administered by the community preservation board under Section 7-291.
The tree board has five members appointed by City Council to two-year terms, and Section 2-439 makes residents of Morgan County or Limestone County eligible as well as residents of Decatur.
Several chapters that sound relevant contain nothing about trees, which is itself useful: Chapter 20 (Streets and Sidewalks) has zero tree provisions, Chapter 22 (Traffic) has none, Chapter 7 (Buildings) has no land-disturbance, grading or clearing permit at all, and the floodplain management article has no vegetation-removal rule. The subdivision regulations of September 2025 mention trees only in definitions and impose no tree survey, preservation requirement or removal permit.

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.

— Any ordinance adopted after December 16, 2024. This is the biggest gap. The code is codified only through Ord. No. 24-4600 of that date, leaving roughly a twenty-month window, and the city's public meeting portal only launched in May 2026 so it holds no historical ordinance archive. A private-property tree ordinance could in principle have been adopted in 2025 or 2026 without appearing in any reachable source. This is judged unlikely given the September 2023 rewrite and the absence of any tree permit on the city's own permits index, but it cannot be ruled out.
— A contradiction in the city's own publishing, recorded rather than resolved. The Planning Department page labels a link "Zoning Ordinance" and points it at a 2025 zoning rewrite PDF whose own running footer reads "Decatur, Alabama Zoning Ordinance | Public Hearing Draft | November 2023" with a cover marked Rev. 7.14.2025, while the codified law remains Municode Chapter 25. It does not change the answer either way: the draft exempts "Development of a single-family detached or duplex dwelling unit on a single lot" from all landscaping standards, contains no tree removal permit in its permit table, and defines no protected tree category.
— Whether removing a tree on private property inside a designated historic district requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. This is a genuine unresolved ambiguity. Section 18-81 requires a COA before any "material change in the exterior appearance," and Section 18-22 defines that to include a change affecting any "landscape feature," with exterior environmental features meaning "All those aspects of the landscape or the development of a site which affect the historical character of the property." Trees are never named. The Section 18-86 detailed design review guidelines, which would settle it, are described as available through the building department and are not online. If your lot is in a Decatur historic district, call the Building Department at (256) 341-4570 before cutting.
— The "Decatur Design Standards" and the "City of Decatur, Alabama Tree List." Both are referenced by Section 2-432 as governing species and replacement selection, and neither is published on the city website. This affects right-of-way replacement plantings only.
— What Alabama enabling authority the tree ordinance rests on. Article XIX carries no state law reference annotation, unlike Section 14-23 which cites Code of Ala. 1975, Section 11-51-93. In a weak-home-rule state that is a notable silence, and the ordinance appears to rest on unstated general police power.
— The right-of-way tree removal permit fee amount, which Section 2-423 delegates to council adoption and which appears in no published fee schedule.
— Federal and state jurisdiction on Tennessee River frontage, which was not examined and is outside a city code review. Decatur sits on the river next to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, and land along TVA reservoirs can carry TVA shoreline vegetation management obligations and Section 26a permitting entirely separate from city law. No city riparian buffer rule was found, but if your lot fronts the river, no city permit does not mean no permit.
— HOA and private covenants, which are outside government entirely and not discoverable from public code. A subdivision covenant can restrict tree removal where the city does not.