Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Elizabeth's tree ordinance, adopted in March 2024, does not create a permit or application step for removing a tree on your own property. What it does create is a replacement obligation: remove a tree of 6 inches DBH or more and you have to replant, unless you qualify as a resident removing fewer than four trees per acre in five years. Street trees are off limits entirely, only the city or the right-of-way owner may remove them.
Size threshold
Replacement is triggered at 6 inches DBH for non-street trees and 2.5 inches DBH for street trees. There is no permit threshold because the ordinance requires no permit.
What's protected in Elizabeth
- Street trees, meaning trees in the sidewalk, planting strip or public right-of-way. "Only the City of Elizabeth or other governmental agency having jurisdiction over the applicable right of way shall remove street trees, removal of street trees other persons is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the right of way owner."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- Any person found in violation of the ordinance is subject to a fine of $1,000 per tree.
- Ordinance
- Ordinance No. 5970, establishing Chapter 17.45 of the Code of the City of Elizabeth, "Tree Removal-Replacement." Passed 3-26-2024, approved 3-27-2024, effective 20 days after final passage.
Worth knowing
- Replacement schedule: a tree of 2.5 inches DBH (street) or 6 inches (non-street) up to 12.99 inches requires 1 replacement tree of at least 1.5 inch caliper; 13 to 22.99 inches requires 2; 23 to 32.99 inches requires 3; 33 inches or greater requires 4.
- If the city determines replacement trees cannot be planted where the removal happened, you either plant them in a separate city-approved area or pay $500 per tree removed into a dedicated tree planting and maintenance fund.
- Resident exemption: residents who remove fewer than four trees per acre in Categories 1, 2 or 3 within a rolling five-year period are exempt from the replacement standard. You must put your justification in writing, with photos and a statement from a New Jersey licensed tree expert or arborist.
- Hazard trees may be removed with no fee and no replacement requirement.
- Replacement trees must be planted within 12 months of the removal, monitored for two years, replaced within 12 months if they die, and may not be planted in temporary containers or pots.
- Trees on the New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team list may not be used as replacement trees.
- The abutting property owner is responsible for the upkeep of the tree well of a street tree and may do light pruning of low-hanging branches below 7 feet and suckers around the trunk.
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 Chapter 12.60 of the Elizabeth Code, titled "Trees" and sitting under Title 12, Streets, Sidewalks and Public Places, adds a permit requirement of its own. Elizabeth's code is hosted on a platform that blocks automated access, so we could not read it. Call Public Works before you cut anything near a sidewalk.
- — A direct phone number for the Zoning Officer, who shares enforcement duty with the Public Works Inspector.