Tree Removal Permits in Hoover, AL

Verified against Hoover city sources · last checked 2026-08-07

Do you need a permit?

No permit required for most private trees

If you own and live in a single-family house in Hoover, you do not need a city permit to remove a tree on your own lot, at any size. This is not a case of nothing being found - Hoover has a full tree conservation ordinance that expressly treats tree removal as regulated land disturbance, and then expressly exempts occupied single-family lots from it. Hiring a tree service does not break the exemption, because the ordinance covers work by "the owner/occupant or his or her agent." The rules bite on development instead: subdivisions, builders, commercial sites and clearing of vacant or unoccupied lots. Two things can still catch you. Your lot may sit inside a recorded tree save area from your subdivision's approved tree conservation plan, and if you live in one of Hoover's planned unit developments the PUD is required by ordinance to carry its own tree rules that meet or exceed the city's.

Size threshold

None applies to removal on an exempt owner-occupied single-family lot. The size figures in the ordinance exist to award tree cover credit on development sites, not to trigger a removal permit. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.02.10(C): "The minimum size tree to be allowed for tree cover credit shall be two inches DBH." Section 3.01.136 defines a tree as "Any self-supporting woody plant, usually having a single woody trunk and a potential DBH of two inches or more and normally attaining a mature height of 25 feet." Hoover uses one measurement convention throughout, with a specific multi-trunk rule - Section 3.01.33: "DBH: Diameter-at-breast-height is a standard measure of tree size, and is a tree trunk diameter measured in inches at a height of 4.5 feet above the ground. If a tree splits into multiple trunks below 4.5 feet, then the trunk is measured at its most narrow point beneath the split."

What's protected in Hoover

Trees on someone else's property, against third parties. Municipal Code Section 11-9: "No person shall willfully or maliciously cut down, destroy, remove, steal or injure any tree, plant or shrub, planted or preserved for shade or ornament, in any public street or square or in any yard, ground or park belonging to the city or to any inhabitant of the city, nor shall remove therefrom any substance, earth, dirt or turf." Read the operative words - willfully or maliciously, and steal. This protects an owner's tree from other people; it does not restrain an owner cutting their own.
Boundary marker trees. Municipal Code Section 11-8: "No person shall willfully remove or destroy any monument or post, or cut down, remove or destroy any tree, or deface or alter the marks made on such monument, post or tree, which monument, post or tree was erected or used to designate the corner, or any other point on the boundary of any lot, or any tract of land."
Tree save areas recorded on platted lots. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.06.02: "A certificate of occupancy shall not be issued for any dwelling until the lot on which the dwelling is located complies with the tree conservation plan approved for the lot or tree conservation plan area as a whole." This applies in the A-1, RE, E-1, E-2, R-1, R-2, R-3, PRD and R-LSF districts.
Trees inside a planned unit development, which carries a second governmental layer. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.02.02(B): "Each PUD approved after the effective date of this Article shall adopt and enforce tree conservation requirements which meet or exceed the requirements of Section 13.02, but may be exempt from the requirements of Section 13.06 Enforcement."

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: No fee and no application for a homeowner on an exempt lot. For anyone who does need the separate erosion and sedimentation permit, Municipal Code Section 12-93 provides that "Each application for the issuance of a permit shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for individual single-family residences and four hundred dollars ($400.00) for all other types of land disturbing activities, to help defray the city's cost of processing and reviewing the application and the inspections associated with the application."
Penalties: Municipal Code Section 12-109: "Such person shall be guilty of a violation; and each day of such violation, failure or refusal to comply with this article shall be deemed a separate offense and punishable accordingly. Any person found to be in violation of any of the provisions of this article shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or up to one hundred eighty (180) days in jail." No penalty attaches to an exempt homeowner removing their own tree.
Ordinance: Hoover Zoning Ordinance, Article 13 - Tree Conservation, Buffers and Landscaping. The zoning ordinance was adopted by Ordinance No. 20-2500 on December 21, 2020 and the published document is titled "Amended through May 11, 2026"; Article 13 was Article XIII under the pre-2020 numbering. The substantive tree program is older than that - the city states that "In 1996 the city adopted its Tree Conservation, Landscaping and Buffers Ordinance and hired a Landscape Architect for ordinance administration." Separately, Hoover Code of Ordinances Chapter 12, Article IV (Erosion and Sedimentation Control) was adopted by Ord. No. 10-2186, Section I (Exh. A), on January 4, 2010, and Sections 11-8 and 11-9 derive from Ord. No. 7, Article II, Sections 21 and 23, adopted January 29, 1968. The Code of Ordinances is current through Supplement 23, latest included Ordinance No. 25-2676.

Worth knowing

The exemption is worth reading word for word, because two of its words matter. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.02.02(A)(1) exempts "Land disturbance on an occupied single family residential lot; provided that such disturbance is conducted by the owner/occupant or his or her agent." The phrase "or his or her agent" means hiring a tree service does not cost you the exemption. The word "occupied" means a vacant or unbuilt lot is not exempt.
Tree removal counts as land disturbance, which is why the exemption is the whole answer. Section 13.02.02: "Land disturbance is defined as the making of any material change to the natural surface of the land or the removal of trees and other woody vegetation, including clearing, grading, excavating, filling, borrowing, creating spoil areas, and dumping of materials." Section 13.02.01: "A land disturbance permit shall be required prior to any land disturbance that is regulated by this Article."
Clearing a vacant lot is a different question from taking a tree out of an established yard. Section 13.02.05 covers speculative land disturbance and requires 20 percent tree cover retention in the E-1, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-LSF districts.
A second, independent permit regime also exempts you. Municipal Code Section 12-98 says "No person may conduct any land-disturbing activity without having obtained a permit from the official," but Section 12-99(3) excludes "landscaping on individual residential lots (excluding landscaping performed by, or on behalf of, a developer or builder, who builds a house on any such lot), home repairs, home maintenance work, minor additions to houses." That same subsection reserves discretion, though: "Notwithstanding, if warranted by the circumstances, the official has the discretion to impose an erosion and sedimentation plan and require a permit even though an excavation is less than three thousand five hundred (3,500) square feet."
Anyone searching only Municode will conclude, wrongly, that Hoover has no tree ordinance. The Code of Ordinances returns a handful of tree references and none of the substance; the operative rules are in the separately published zoning ordinance PDF, and the zoning appendices are not in Municode at all.
Your tree service needs a Hoover business license. Municipal Code Section 8-16 sets the schedule and lists "Lawn service; tree trimmer and topper .....35.00" and "Nurseryman or dealer in shrubs, trees, tree surgeons, etc., or agent. Each person, firm or corporation .....50.00." The homeowner is not the one penalized, but it is a reasonable thing to ask to see.
Riverchase is unusual in that its PUD regulations are codified into the municipal code as Appendix III, which makes them governmental rather than merely private covenants. Ross Bridge, Greystone and Trace Crossings are also PUDs and carry the Section 13.02.02(B) obligation.
An HOA architectural review requirement for tree removal, where one exists, is a private contract matter enforced by the association and not by the city. It is real and it is enforceable, but it is not a permit and the city will not adjudicate it.
Hoover has been a Tree City USA community for nearly three decades. That is recognition, not regulation, and it creates no permit duty.
Maintenance duties also exempt occupied houses. Section 13.02.08: "Except for occupied single family dwellings, the owner shall be responsible for the maintenance of all plant material required by this Section."

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 fee for an Article 13 land disturbance permit. It is not stated anywhere in the zoning ordinance text and no separate adopted fee schedule containing it was located.
— The tree rules of individual planned unit developments. Section 13.02.02(B) requires each PUD to adopt requirements meeting or exceeding Section 13.02, but the adopted regulations for Riverchase, Ross Bridge, Greystone and Trace Crossings were not each read. If you live in a PUD, assume there is an extra layer and call Public Works.
— Whether any specific parcel carries a recorded tree save area. This is inherently parcel-specific and requires a plat or plan check with Planning and Zoning.
— Two contradictions in the city's own published contact information, recorded rather than resolved. The Urban Forestry page gives (205) 739-7150 for tree questions while the staff directory gives 205-444-7543 for Public Works; both are plausibly live as a division line and a main line. Separately, one city page gives the Building Inspections address as 2020 Valleydale Rd, Ste 103 and another gives 100 Municipal Lane.
— The amendment history of Article 13. The zoning ordinance PDF's amendment table has misaligned columns, so ordinance numbers and dates do not reliably pair. Only the original adopting ordinance and the stated "Amended through May 11, 2026" are cited above.
— What Alabama enabling authority Hoover relies on. Neither Article 13 nor Chapter 12, Article IV recites a Code of Ala. 1975 grant. In a weak-home-rule state that is worth knowing and it is simply absent from the text.
— Whether Jefferson County or Shelby County rules add anything. Neither county code was checked. Within incorporated Hoover the city ordinance governs, so this is unlikely to change the answer, but it is not affirmatively verified.
— Whether any Cahaba River corridor, watercourse or steep-slope provision imposes a vegetation duty on an otherwise exempt lot. Municipal Code Section 12-157 (watercourse protection) and Chapter 12, Article III (flood damage prevention) exist and were not read exhaustively for vegetation-removal duties.

Sources

Who to contact in Hoover

Public Works Department, City of Hoover, which administers Urban Forestry. The city says in its own words: "For questions about trees on your property, residents and business owners can reach the Public Works Department at (205) 739-7150." Article 13 interpretation questions go to Planning and Zoning; the land disturbance and erosion permit "official" is the City Engineer under Section 12-91.

(205) 739-7150 is the Public Works line the city publishes specifically for tree questions, and it is the right first call. 205-444-7543 is the Public Works number in the city staff directory - the two differ and both appear to be live, so try the 739 number first. Planning and Zoning, for Article 13 questions, is 205-444-7517. Building Inspections is 205-444-7522. Engineering, for land disturbance permits, is 205-444-7529. City Hall switchboard is 205-444-7500. Hoover publishes no after-hours forestry line. zoning@hooveralabama.gov for zoning and Article 13 questions; permits@hooveralabama.gov for building permits. No email is published for urban forestry itself. Official page

Hoover City Hall, 100 Municipal Lane, Hoover, AL 35216. Engineering is at 2020 Valleydale Rd, Suite E-100, Hoover, AL 35244.

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Size threshold

What's protected in Hoover

Trees on someone else's property, against third parties. Municipal Code Section 11-9: "No person shall willfully or maliciously cut down, destroy, remove, steal or injure any tree, plant or shrub, planted or preserved for shade or ornament, in any public street or square or in any yard, ground or park belonging to the city or to any inhabitant of the city, nor shall remove therefrom any substance, earth, dirt or turf." Read the operative words - willfully or maliciously, and steal. This protects an owner's tree from other people; it does not restrain an owner cutting their own.

Boundary marker trees. Municipal Code Section 11-8: "No person shall willfully remove or destroy any monument or post, or cut down, remove or destroy any tree, or deface or alter the marks made on such monument, post or tree, which monument, post or tree was erected or used to designate the corner, or any other point on the boundary of any lot, or any tract of land."

Tree save areas recorded on platted lots. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.06.02: "A certificate of occupancy shall not be issued for any dwelling until the lot on which the dwelling is located complies with the tree conservation plan approved for the lot or tree conservation plan area as a whole." This applies in the A-1, RE, E-1, E-2, R-1, R-2, R-3, PRD and R-LSF districts.

Trees inside a planned unit development, which carries a second governmental layer. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.02.02(B): "Each PUD approved after the effective date of this Article shall adopt and enforce tree conservation requirements which meet or exceed the requirements of Section 13.02, but may be exempt from the requirements of Section 13.06 Enforcement."

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

No fee and no application for a homeowner on an exempt lot. For anyone who does need the separate erosion and sedimentation permit, Municipal Code Section 12-93 provides that "Each application for the issuance of a permit shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for individual single-family residences and four hundred dollars ($400.00) for all other types of land disturbing activities, to help defray the city's cost of processing and reviewing the application and the inspections associated with the application."

Penalties

Municipal Code Section 12-109: "Such person shall be guilty of a violation; and each day of such violation, failure or refusal to comply with this article shall be deemed a separate offense and punishable accordingly. Any person found to be in violation of any of the provisions of this article shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or up to one hundred eighty (180) days in jail." No penalty attaches to an exempt homeowner removing their own tree.

Ordinance

Hoover Zoning Ordinance, Article 13 - Tree Conservation, Buffers and Landscaping. The zoning ordinance was adopted by Ordinance No. 20-2500 on December 21, 2020 and the published document is titled "Amended through May 11, 2026"; Article 13 was Article XIII under the pre-2020 numbering. The substantive tree program is older than that - the city states that "In 1996 the city adopted its Tree Conservation, Landscaping and Buffers Ordinance and hired a Landscape Architect for ordinance administration." Separately, Hoover Code of Ordinances Chapter 12, Article IV (Erosion and Sedimentation Control) was adopted by Ord. No. 10-2186, Section I (Exh. A), on January 4, 2010, and Sections 11-8 and 11-9 derive from Ord. No. 7, Article II, Sections 21 and 23, adopted January 29, 1968. The Code of Ordinances is current through Supplement 23, latest included Ordinance No. 25-2676.

Worth knowing

The exemption is worth reading word for word, because two of its words matter. Zoning Ordinance Section 13.02.02(A)(1) exempts "Land disturbance on an occupied single family residential lot; provided that such disturbance is conducted by the owner/occupant or his or her agent." The phrase "or his or her agent" means hiring a tree service does not cost you the exemption. The word "occupied" means a vacant or unbuilt lot is not exempt.
Tree removal counts as land disturbance, which is why the exemption is the whole answer. Section 13.02.02: "Land disturbance is defined as the making of any material change to the natural surface of the land or the removal of trees and other woody vegetation, including clearing, grading, excavating, filling, borrowing, creating spoil areas, and dumping of materials." Section 13.02.01: "A land disturbance permit shall be required prior to any land disturbance that is regulated by this Article."
Clearing a vacant lot is a different question from taking a tree out of an established yard. Section 13.02.05 covers speculative land disturbance and requires 20 percent tree cover retention in the E-1, R-E, R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-LSF districts.
A second, independent permit regime also exempts you. Municipal Code Section 12-98 says "No person may conduct any land-disturbing activity without having obtained a permit from the official," but Section 12-99(3) excludes "landscaping on individual residential lots (excluding landscaping performed by, or on behalf of, a developer or builder, who builds a house on any such lot), home repairs, home maintenance work, minor additions to houses." That same subsection reserves discretion, though: "Notwithstanding, if warranted by the circumstances, the official has the discretion to impose an erosion and sedimentation plan and require a permit even though an excavation is less than three thousand five hundred (3,500) square feet."
Anyone searching only Municode will conclude, wrongly, that Hoover has no tree ordinance. The Code of Ordinances returns a handful of tree references and none of the substance; the operative rules are in the separately published zoning ordinance PDF, and the zoning appendices are not in Municode at all.
Your tree service needs a Hoover business license. Municipal Code Section 8-16 sets the schedule and lists "Lawn service; tree trimmer and topper .....35.00" and "Nurseryman or dealer in shrubs, trees, tree surgeons, etc., or agent. Each person, firm or corporation .....50.00." The homeowner is not the one penalized, but it is a reasonable thing to ask to see.
Riverchase is unusual in that its PUD regulations are codified into the municipal code as Appendix III, which makes them governmental rather than merely private covenants. Ross Bridge, Greystone and Trace Crossings are also PUDs and carry the Section 13.02.02(B) obligation.
An HOA architectural review requirement for tree removal, where one exists, is a private contract matter enforced by the association and not by the city. It is real and it is enforceable, but it is not a permit and the city will not adjudicate it.
Hoover has been a Tree City USA community for nearly three decades. That is recognition, not regulation, and it creates no permit duty.
Maintenance duties also exempt occupied houses. Section 13.02.08: "Except for occupied single family dwellings, the owner shall be responsible for the maintenance of all plant material required by this Section."

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 fee for an Article 13 land disturbance permit. It is not stated anywhere in the zoning ordinance text and no separate adopted fee schedule containing it was located.
— The tree rules of individual planned unit developments. Section 13.02.02(B) requires each PUD to adopt requirements meeting or exceeding Section 13.02, but the adopted regulations for Riverchase, Ross Bridge, Greystone and Trace Crossings were not each read. If you live in a PUD, assume there is an extra layer and call Public Works.
— Whether any specific parcel carries a recorded tree save area. This is inherently parcel-specific and requires a plat or plan check with Planning and Zoning.
— Two contradictions in the city's own published contact information, recorded rather than resolved. The Urban Forestry page gives (205) 739-7150 for tree questions while the staff directory gives 205-444-7543 for Public Works; both are plausibly live as a division line and a main line. Separately, one city page gives the Building Inspections address as 2020 Valleydale Rd, Ste 103 and another gives 100 Municipal Lane.
— The amendment history of Article 13. The zoning ordinance PDF's amendment table has misaligned columns, so ordinance numbers and dates do not reliably pair. Only the original adopting ordinance and the stated "Amended through May 11, 2026" are cited above.
— What Alabama enabling authority Hoover relies on. Neither Article 13 nor Chapter 12, Article IV recites a Code of Ala. 1975 grant. In a weak-home-rule state that is worth knowing and it is simply absent from the text.
— Whether Jefferson County or Shelby County rules add anything. Neither county code was checked. Within incorporated Hoover the city ordinance governs, so this is unlikely to change the answer, but it is not affirmatively verified.
— Whether any Cahaba River corridor, watercourse or steep-slope provision imposes a vegetation duty on an otherwise exempt lot. Municipal Code Section 12-157 (watercourse protection) and Chapter 12, Article III (flood damage prevention) exist and were not read exhaustively for vegetation-removal duties.