Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Greenville regulates tree removal under Sec. 19-6.3.2, Tree Protection and Replacement. Activity removing or injuring a healthy, disease-free tree six inches DBH or greater that is not an invasive species and poses no safety risk requires mitigation or a fee in lieu. The city processes these through a Tree Disturbance permit application.
Size threshold
Trees six inches or greater DBH that are not a recognised invasive species, are healthy and disease free, and pose no risk to health, safety or welfare.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- City of Greenville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 19 (Landscape Management), Sec. 19-6.3.2 — Tree Protection and Replacement
Worth knowing
- A 2021 tree ordinance requires property owners to either replant trees removed from private property or pay into the city's Open Space Fund, which is used to buy land inside city limits for planting, fund landscaping at affordable housing projects, and expand tree giveaways.
- If a tree on public property falls onto your property inside the city, call Greenville Cares at 864-232-2273.
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 an ordinary homeowner removing a single tree on an established lot needs the Tree Disturbance permit, or whether Sec. 19-6.3.2 is triggered only by land-disturbance and development activity. This is the decisive question and the city does not answer it plainly — call before you cut.
- — The mitigation formula and the dollar amount of the fee in lieu.
- — Permit application fees and penalties for unpermitted removal.