Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Glendale has a full Landscape Ordinance and then exempts you from it. Section 19-4 states that "Agricultural uses and single-family and two-family residences and their accessories shall be exempt from the requirements of this chapter," so no permit is required to remove a tree in the yard of a house or duplex. What the city does regulate is the public side: section 19-97 requires a permit from the administrator before anyone plants, removes, cuts above the ground or disturbs any tree in a city right-of-way, park or other public place.
What's protected in Glendale
- Trees in any city right-of-way, park or other public place. Section 19-97: "No person shall plant, remove, cut above the ground, or disturb any tree within any city right-of-way, park or other public place without first obtaining a permit from the administrator."
- Trees on private property that the administrator determines are a hazard. Section 19-93 gives the urban forestry article authority over "trees located on private property which constitute a hazard or threat as described herein."
- On properties the landscape chapter does apply to, meaning anything other than single-family, two-family and agricultural, section 19-10(a)(2) requires the owner to "Replace all dead or removed plants with plants of the same variety, and in the size and quality as those removed."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- Section 19-100, for the urban forestry article: "Any person found guilty of violating any provision of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment not to exceed the maximum set for class one misdemeanors by the Arizona Legislators in Title 13 of the Arizona Revised Statutes." Section 19-8 separately makes a violation of the landscape chapter a public nuisance that the city may pursue civilly or criminally, and gives code compliance inspectors and police officers authority to issue citations.
- Ordinance
- Code of the City of Glendale, Arizona 1985, Chapter 19 — Landscaping. Article I in general (section 19-4 scope, Ord. No. 1295, section 1, July 31, 1984; penalties at section 19-8 amended by Ord. No. O24-30, section 1, September 10, 2024) and Article IV — Urban Forestry, sections 19-91 through 19-100, adopted by Ord. No. 1977, section 1, December 9, 1997. Code codified through Ordinance No. O26-19, adopted April 14, 2026.
Worth knowing
- The exemption is broad but it is only an exemption from Chapter 19. It does not exempt you from the state Native Plant Law, and it does not exempt you from an HOA.
- Section 19-99 puts a duty on you rather than a restriction: every owner of a tree overhanging a street or right-of-way must prune it so it does not obstruct an intersection or interfere with the sidewalk, and "shall remove all dead, diseased or dangerous trees or broken or decaying limbs which the administrator determines constitutes a hazard." If you do not, the city may do it at your expense and the cost becomes a lien on the property.
- Glendale's urban forestry plan (section 19-95) is adopted by council resolution and sets ISA specifications for street and park trees, permitted species, and rules for their care, pruning, planting and removal. It applies to public trees; for private property it only directs the city to "encourage good tree management."
- Section 19-98 makes it unlawful to nail, staple or glue any sign, letter, reflector or number to a street tree or park tree.
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.
- — A direct phone number for the Glendale office that issues the section 19-97 right-of-way tree permit. Glendaleaz.gov blocks automated access, so the number above is the general city line taken from the city's code publisher listing rather than confirmed on the city's own site — confirm it before relying on it.
- — Any fee for the section 19-97 permit. Glendale's Community Development fee schedule (Appendix B, effective May 10, 2019) was not read.
- — Whether Glendale has any native plant preservation requirement outside Chapter 19, for example in Chapter 35, the Unified Development Code, or Chapter 18.5, grading and drainage. Chapter 19 is the chapter cross-referenced for trees and it contains none.
- — Whether trees planted as a condition of a subdivision plat on a single-family lot are pulled back into the maintenance duty at section 19-10 despite the section 19-4 exemption.