Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Gilbert has no tree ordinance. Neither the Town Code nor the Land Development Code requires a permit to remove a tree on your own single-family lot, at any trunk size, and there is no tree permit anywhere in the town's permit catalog or fee schedule. The LDC's landscape article says who it covers and excludes you by name: section 5.4.2 applies it to new subdivisions and to "All new construction other than individual single family residences." The rules that do bind a Gilbert homeowner run the other direction — you must remove dead trees, keep sightlines clear, and trim for the trash truck.
What's protected in Gilbert
- Existing plant material on projects that go through Design Review. LDC section 5.4.9.A: "Existing plant material may only be removed pursuant a Design Review approval." That sits under Landscape Maintenance During Construction, and Design Review applicability at section 6.6.1.B excludes "All single family detached new custom homes and remodeled dwelling units and related accessory buildings," which go directly to permitting. Standard Plan and Semi-Custom Builder homes do require Design Review.
- Streetscape theme trees on the sixteen streetscape districts (LDC section 5.4.8). These are planting requirements for new development along arterials and collectors, not protections for existing trees, but section 5.4.10.B.4 requires an HOA replacing one to match the district theme.
- Trees in town parks and the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (Town Code sections 46-33 and 46-45).
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No tree removal fee exists. If the work is inside the public right-of-way, the Encroachment Permit is $490 on the Development Services Fee Schedule revised July 1, 2026.
- Penalties
- LDC section 6.12.6 sets a civil fine of not more than $500.00 per violation, and section 6.12.5.C makes each day a separate offense. Section 6.12.7 escalates habitual offenders: three or more civil violations in 24 months makes a subsequent violation a class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail, a fine up to $2,500, and/or probation. None of this attaches to removing a tree on your own lot, because that is not a violation.
- Ordinance
- Gilbert Land Development Code, adopted September 21, 2021 and effective October 21, 2021 by Ordinance No. 2809; latest revision June 10, 2026, with the most recent amendment in the LDC's own table being Ordinance No. 2979, effective April 3, 2026. The landscape article, Chapter 1 section 5.4, still carries a footer date of September 1, 2021 and has not been amended since adoption. Gilbert Town Code codified through Ordinance No. 2978, enacted February 17, 2026 (Supplement No. 102).
Worth knowing
- The affirmative duties are what actually catch Gilbert homeowners. Town Code section 42-317(e)(2): "The premises shall be free from visual blight; potential fire hazards; dead trees and branches; dead palm fronds within ten feet of the ground, a structure, a fence or wall, or of any combustible other than the tree from which the fronds have grown."
- Town Code section 66-264(f): "The owner or occupant of property shall trim trees or shrubbery on his property and in the adjacent right-of-way or easement, so that the trees or shrubbery do not interfere with the free movement of solid waste collection vehicles."
- Town Code section 54-3 makes it unlawful to allow any tree or other obstruction to block a driver's clear view of traffic, signals or signs approaching an intersection or crosswalk.
- LDC section 5.4.10.A: "Maintenance of landscaping in the right-of-way shall be the responsibility of the abutting property owner, whether an individual, corporation, property owner's association or homeowner's association." You maintain the strip; the code does not say you may remove trees from it.
- The landscape maintenance enforcement chain in LDC section 5.4.10.C runs to the HOA president and board, not to an individual lot owner. The provision reads "A single family residential subdivision shall be in violation," and gives 45 days to cure, extendable by 45 more, then a final 20-day notice, then a citation.
- For brush disposal, Town Code section 66-288(3): "All brush, tree limbs and cuttings shall not exceed five feet in length and 12 inches in diameter" for collection.
- Gilbert is heavily HOA'd and CC&Rs commonly restrict removal. That is a private contract the town does not administer.
- The LDC is currently labelled "Land Development Code Refresh" on the Planning page. A tree provision could be added in the rewrite, so re-check before relying on this a year from now.
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 removing an existing tree from the public right-of-way requires an encroachment permit. The code cuts both ways and we are not picking a side. Section 10-325 defines "Encroachment" as "construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, or grading within the public rights-of-way," which a removal could arguably be. But section 10-326 makes it unlawful only "to place an encroachment in a public right-of-way," and section 10-329(d) treats removal of an encroachment as the endpoint rather than a permitted act. No provision names tree removal. Call (480) 503-6700 about this specific case.
- — Whether the town or the abutting owner controls trees in the right-of-way. LDC section 5.4.10.A assigns maintenance to the abutting owner and says nothing about removal authority or ownership.
- — Chapter 2 Design Guidelines sections 2 and 4 through 10 were not read in full. Section 1 was checked and contains only new-subdivision street tree planting guidance. All are guidelines for new development subject to Design Review, from which single-family detached homes are exempt.
- — The Town Engineering and Construction Standards, a separate document the LDC repeatedly cross-references for sight visibility and trunk height, was not retrieved.
Sources
- Town of Gilbert Land Development Code (full PDF, 531 pages)
- Town of Gilbert — Planning Division contact and hours
- Town of Gilbert — Permits, Applications and Checklists (full permit catalog, no tree permit)
- Gilbert Town Code section 42-317 — exterior premises and vacant land, dead trees
- Gilbert Town Code Chapter 10 Article X — encroachment permits for public rights-of-way
- Gilbert Town Code section 54-3 — obstruction of view
- A.R.S. 3-904 — Arizona Native Plant Law, private landowner notice and the 10-acre exemption