Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Fall River has a real tree ordinance, but it draws its own boundary: "The terms and provisions of this division shall apply to all public property in the City." The permit requirement covers planting, pruning, removing or disturbing "any public tree" — not the maple in your back yard. The city defines a city tree as one "planted only within the city's property layout."
What's protected in Fall River
- Public trees — "all trees now or hereafter growing on any street, park, or any other public place." A permit is required to plant, transplant, prune, apply chemicals to, stake, guy, remove or disturb one, or to do construction work within its dripline.
- Public shade trees under M.G.L. c.87, which applies statewide to any tree within a public way or on its boundaries.
- Your own tree, if it becomes a hazard. The Park Board, Urban Tree Commission and Tree Warden "may cause or order to be removed, pruned, or treated any tree or part thereof on private property which is in an unsafe condition."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- The ordinance's penalties run to public trees. Section 54-152: the City "shall be compensated for any tree damaged beyond repair or destroyed in violation of this division," either with replacement trees or the replacement value, calculated from the destroyed tree's caliper or DBH under the Fall River Tree Administrative Guidelines, with the violator bearing all costs. Section 54-151 adds remedial planting within 90 days of notice.
- Ordinance
- Fall River Code Chapter 54, Article IV, Division 2 — Trees (the "Fall River Tree Ordinance"), sections 54-133 through 54-155. Added 3-13-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-10. Applicability is at section 54-135; the permit requirement is at section 54-144.
Worth knowing
- Your obligations run the other way here. Section 54-148 makes it the duty of an owner whose property borders a street to prune so branches do not shade streetlights or block sidewalks, signs or sightlines — minimum clearance 8 feet over sidewalks and 12 feet over streets — and to prune, remove or treat any tree of yours that is unsafe or pest-infested. Ignore a written notice and the city can do the work and lien your property.
- To have a healthy city tree in front of your house removed, you petition the Board of Park Commissioners by letter with photographs or repair invoices, sent to 450 Middle St., Fall River, MA 02724. The Board meets the first Wednesday of each month at Government Center.
- The Tree Warden must be the Manager of Cemeteries or of Parks and Recreation, and is paid a stipend for the role. A seven-member Urban Tree Commission advises on public street trees.
- Firms that work on public trees for hire must carry workers compensation and liability insurance and keep a certified arborist on staff to oversee and certify the work. That registration requirement is scoped to public property.
- After a wind storm, ice storm or pest outbreak the Mayor can waive the division's requirements so cleanup is not held up.
- Fall River contains a large share of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. That is protected public conservation land governed entirely separately from a residential lot.
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 fee amounts. The ordinance establishes the permit but publishes no fee schedule, deferring detail to the Fall River Tree Administrative Guidelines, which are not posted online.
- — Any diameter threshold. Fall River's rules turn on whether the tree is public, not on its size.
- — Whether Fall River's zoning ordinance imposes tree or landscaping requirements on development, and whether the Conservation Commission's wetlands jurisdiction reaches tree cutting on private lots — neither was checked.
- — The city publishes no page affirmatively telling homeowners that no permit is needed for a private tree. The conclusion here rests on the ordinance's own applicability clause limiting it to public property.