Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Fishers regulates street trees and nothing else. The code defines a street tree as one "planted on real estate owned or controlled by the city, and trees planted within a dedicated landscape easement," and the permit sections apply only to that. There is no tree removal permit anywhere in the Unified Development Ordinance and none among the 107 record types in the city's permit portal. Two things can still catch a Fishers homeowner: a conservation area or preservation easement recorded on your plat, and your HOA.
Size threshold
No threshold for an ordinary yard tree. Inside a designated conservation area in a conservation subdivision, UDO Sec. 8.4.7.E.2 provides that "no trees with a DBH more than six (6) inches or evergreens eight (8) feet or more in height shall be removed from any lot" except within the building pad, within 15 feet of the structure, between the front of the house and the interior road, for governmental safety requirements, or to install utilities.
What's protected in Fishers
- Street trees — on city-owned or city-controlled real estate, and within a dedicated landscape easement. That includes the strip between your sidewalk and the curb.
- Trees over 6 inches DBH, and evergreens 8 feet or taller, inside a designated conservation area in a conservation subdivision
- All plant life inside a recorded preservation easement — the UDO says "Plant life may not be removed from a preservation easement" except when dead, dying, diseased, or a threat to health and safety
- Plant material installed in HOA common areas, which cannot be removed unless diseased or dead and must be replaced
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- UDO Sec. 11.1.10.B sets "$300.00 per any other violations of the UDO determined per day," with each day a separate violation — that is what reaches a conservation-area or preservation-easement removal. Improper removal inside a Tree Conservation Plan also triggers replacement: a removed 6-inch caliper tree must be replaced by two 6-inch trees or three 3-inch trees, and "Under no circumstance will a tree less than three-inches (3") in caliper be permitted as a replacement tree." Section 95.99 sets $10 for violations of Sections 95.01 through 95.06 and $250 for the unsafe-tree and weeds subchapters.
- Ordinance
- Fishers Code of Ordinances Chapter 95 — Trees and Shrubs; Weeds. The street tree subchapter is Sections 95.30 through 95.35 (definitions at 95.30, permits at 95.33), with the Street Tree Board at Section 32.03 and penalties at Section 95.99. Fishers Unified Development Ordinance Sec. 8.4.7 (conservation development), Sec. 8.4.3 (common areas), Article 6.7 (landscaping).
Worth knowing
- The permit language is narrow on purpose. Section 95.33(B): "No person shall remove a street tree unless the Tree Board has issued the proper permit. Except that, no permit is required in an emergency situation."
- The Street Tree Board is not a separate body — Section 32.03 designates the Parks Advisory Committee to serve as it.
- The city splits the phone numbers by task: Planning and Zoning at 317-595-3155 for street tree permits and approved species, Public Works at 317-595-3160 for removal or maintenance of an existing street tree.
- Section 95.02 makes you responsible for maintaining and removing a tree planted in the strip, and lets the city remove a dead tree or dangerous limb after notice and bill you. Section 95.11 goes further: "Property owners are ultimately responsible for the trimming, pruning and removal of trees that extend onto a public right-of-way, sidewalk or public property."
- Tree canopy requirements under UDO Sec. 6.7.4.B reach only "developments with over 25,000 square feet of finished floor in multi-family and non-residential zoning districts." Single-family homes are outside them.
- HOA covenants are the binding constraint for most Fishers homeowners. The city's own Planting Guide tells residents they are responsible for getting HOA permission, and the city will not override a covenant.
- Fishers moved its website from fishers.in.us to fishersin.gov. Old links redirect.
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.
- — The Street Tree Permit fee. No amount appears on fishersin.gov, in Chapter 95, in the UDO, or in the permit portal.
- — A contradiction inside UDO Sec. 8.4.7. Subsection B.3 says "Tree Conservation Areas shall be protected within Common Areas and are not allowed to be placed on private Lot home-sites," while subsection E.2 governs removal "from any lot." Both are in the adopted text. If you are in a conservation subdivision, check your recorded plat.
- — Whether any particular Fishers subdivision plat places a conservation area or preservation easement on private lots. That is plat-by-plat and has to be checked per property.
- — No monetary penalty is published for removing a street tree without a permit — Section 95.99 assigns penalties to other subchapters but not to Sections 95.30 through 95.35.
- — Street Tree Permit processing time. The code gives a 60-day validity period but no review turnaround.
- — Whether Fishers holds Tree City USA designation. The city has a Street Tree Board and an urban forestry program, but we found no primary-source confirmation of the designation.
Sources
- Fishers Code of Ordinances Section 95.33 — Permits
- Fishers Code of Ordinances Section 95.30 — Definitions (street trees)
- Fishers Code of Ordinances Chapter 95 — Trees and Shrubs; Weeds
- City of Fishers Planning and Zoning — For Residents (street tree permit, phone numbers)
- Fishers Unified Development Ordinance (encodePlus)
- City of Fishers — Planting Guide and Urban Forestry Program (PDF)