Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Fairmont has no tree removal permit at all, and the one tree provision in its code writes the exemption into the sentence. Section 533.06: "No person, not the owner thereof, shall willfully cut, mark, injure, disfigure or destroy any shade or ornamental tree growing in the public grounds, streets, alleys or sidewalks of the City unless ordered to do so by Council." Two limits in one clause - it excepts the owner, and it only reaches trees in public grounds, streets, alleys and sidewalks. There is no trees article anywhere in the Streets, Utilities and Public Services Code, nothing in the Health and Sanitation Code, and no tree removal permit in the 2022 Zoning Code. If the tree is yours and it is on your land, nothing in Fairmont's code asks you to file anything.
Size threshold
None found. The Zoning Code defines the terms without attaching a permit to any of them: "Caliper - The size of a tree's trunk diameter as measured six (6) inches above the ground for trees four (4) inches or [less, and twelve inches above the] ground for trees larger than four inches," and lists DBH in its abbreviations as "diameter at breast height." The only diameter figure that does anything is a plan-content requirement - a Planned Development Area application must show "isolated trees six (6) inches or more in diameter."
What's protected in Fairmont
- Shade and ornamental trees in public grounds, streets, alleys and sidewalks - and only against someone other than the owner. Section 533.06 in full: "No person, not the owner thereof, shall willfully cut, mark, injure, disfigure or destroy any shade or ornamental tree growing in the public grounds, streets, alleys or sidewalks of the City unless ordered to do so by Council, or shall tie or hitch any horse or other animal to any such tree."
- Significant trees in required setbacks, but only for two specific commercial uses. Zoning Code Section 4.10 (Commercial Uses Exceeding 30,000 Square Feet): "Significant trees and stands of trees within the required setbacks shall be preserved," and "Front setbacks may be altered (increased) to preserve significant trees and stands of trees." Section 4.9 allows the same for civic uses: "Front setbacks may be altered to preserve views or significant trees."
- Top soil, which is the closest Fairmont comes to a clearing rule on private land. Zoning Code Section 5.12: "No person, firm or corporation shall strip, excavate or otherwise remove top soil for sale or for use other than on the premises from which the same is taken except in connection with the construction or alteration of a building or site improvements on the premises and excavation or grading incidental thereto."
- Hillside subdivisions, at the platting stage only. The Zoning Code defines a hillside development as "one in which the percent slope of the land within the subdivision or minor land division is fifteen percent (15%)," and Section 7.5(8) sets standards whose objectives include preserving "the natural characteristic of the hill areas by good design practices," protecting watersheds and natural watercourses, and requiring that "Erosion control plantings shall be provided where necessary to prevent serious erosion." That binds a subdivider, not a homeowner.
How to apply in Fairmont
- 1
There is no tree removal application. Fairmont's published list of planning applications runs to twelve forms - variance, general appeal, certificate of appropriateness, conditional use, developmental review, home occupation affidavit, minor subdivision, sign permit, site plan review, building and zoning permit, zoning text amendment and zoning map amendment - and none of them is for trees.
- 2
If your work involves construction, grading or a change of use, site plan review under Zoning Code Section 6.1 may apply, and where it does, "a Landscape and Screening Plan shall be a required part of such site plan."
- 3
If you are removing soil rather than just a tree, check Section 5.12 first - stripping top soil for sale or for use off the premises is prohibited outside of construction work on that same property.
- 4
If the tree is on public ground rather than yours, Section 533.06 makes cutting it an offense unless Council orders it, and there is no permit mechanism to apply for. Call Public Works at 304-363-3883.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Codified Ordinances of Fairmont, West Virginia, hosted by American Legal Publishing, adopted by Ordinance No. 574, version 2026-01, local legislation current through December 30, 2025. The only tree provision is Part Five - General Offenses Code, Article 533 (Offenses Relating to Property), Section 533.06 (Injuring trees), carried forward from the 1968 Code Section 16-44. Part Nine - Streets, Utilities and Public Services Code, Chapter One, contains Articles 905 (General Provisions), 907 (Private Outdoor Designated Areas), 909 (Street Construction Standards), 913 (Street Improvements), 917 (Excavations), 919 (Vacation Procedures) and 920 (charges), and further chapters through Article 945 - no trees article in any of them. Part Eleven - Health and Sanitation Code contains no tree provision either. Part Thirteen does not contain the zoning text; the code page says only "Click here to access the Planning and Zoning Code," and the operative document is the separate City of Fairmont Zoning Code PDF, last updated August 24, 2022, which carries the subdivision regulations at Article 7.
Worth knowing
- Fairmont's home rule ordinances do not touch trees. The city publishes six: B&O tax credits, elimination of tax on manufacturing, elimination of tax on wholesale reduced retail, property value exemption, relief from zoning, and sales tax. All tax and zoning, none about vegetation or property maintenance.
- The Zoning Code defines clear-cutting - "The large-scale, indiscriminate removal of trees, shrubs, and undergrowth" - but no operative section was found that prohibits or permits it. Defining a term without regulating it is common and it is not a rule.
- The historic review that exists is narrow. The Historic Preservation Review Commission examines "proposed signs, exterior renovations, and new construction within the city's historic overlay districts," with design standards currently applied only to the Downtown Historic District. Nothing in the city's description reaches trees or landscaping.
- Landscaping in Fairmont is a site plan requirement, not a standalone permit. Zoning Code Section 5.5(3)(A): "Wherever site plan review is required by this Ordinance, a Landscape and Screening Plan shall be a required part of such site plan. No permanent Certificate of Occupancy shall be issued without completion of all landscaping shown on an approved Landscape and Screening Plan."
- Two statewide rules apply in Fairmont as everywhere in West Virginia and are worth more attention than the local code here. W. Va. Code Section 17-19-13 makes it a misdemeanor to "kill a tree and leave it standing within fifty feet of any public road." W. Va. Code Section 61-3-48a makes anyone who cuts or carries away trees on another person's land without written permission "liable to the owner in the amount of three times the value."
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 Fairmont imposes any duty to remove a dead or dangerous tree, and on what clock. Every other West Virginia city researched has one, sitting variously at 10 days (Wheeling), 30 days (Morgantown), 36 hours (Parkersburg) and 45 days (Huntington). Every chapter heading in Fairmont's General Offenses Code and Health and Sanitation Code was scanned and no tree duty was found, but the chapters were not read line by line.
- — The penalty attached to Section 533.06. The section prints no penalty of its own and the general offenses penalty section was not read.
- — Whether Fairmont has any street tree or right-of-way tree rule beyond Section 533.06. Article 905 contains "Obstructions; permission required" but its text was not read.
- — Whether the Certificate of Appropriateness form for the Downtown Historic District asks about trees or landscaping. The form exists at fairmontwv.seamlessdocs.com but was not opened.
- — Whether a tree service needs a Fairmont business license or B&O registration.
- — Whether Fairmont participates in Tree City USA. Even if it does, that is recognition and not regulation.
Sources
- Codified Ordinances of Fairmont, WV - overview and currency (American Legal)
- Fairmont Sec. 533.06 - Injuring trees (American Legal)
- City of Fairmont Zoning Code, updated August 24, 2022 (PDF)
- City of Fairmont - Planning and Development
- City of Fairmont - Planning Applications (full list of permit types)
- City of Fairmont - Public Works
- City of Fairmont - Historic Preservation Review Commission
- City of Fairmont - Home Rule Ordinances