Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Independence regulates street trees and leaves your yard alone. The permit section is scoped by location, not size: "It shall be unlawful for any person to plant, set out, trim, spray, preserve or remove a street tree or other plant in a public place without obtaining a permit from the City Forester," and a public place is "any property, easement, right-of-way, street or other area owned or operated by the City." Nothing in that article reaches a tree standing on private property, and no diameter threshold exists. Two things still touch your yard: the city can order you to remove a dead or hazardous tree and bill you for it, and clearing enough ground triggers an erosion control permit. Topping a street tree is banned outright rather than permitted.
Size threshold
None for a private removal. The diameter figures in the Independence code do other jobs: street trees planted in a public place "must not be less than one inch in diameter measured four and one-half feet above grade"; a developer must plot right-of-way trees "having diameters of greater than 12 inches"; and tree-preservation credits on development sites count "all existing deciduous trees with a trunk size of four inches or larger measured at 4.5 feet above the ground and all existing evergreen trees measuring six feet or more in height."
What's protected in Independence
- Street trees and any tree in a public place — "No person shall do any act or cause or permit any act to be done to any street tree or other plant in a public place without a permit issued by the City Forester." That includes the strip between your sidewalk and the curb, which sits inside the street right-of-way.
- Topping, which is prohibited rather than permitted: "It shall be unlawful as a normal practice for any person, firm, or organization to top any street tree or tree located in a public place. Trees severely damaged by storms or other causes, or certain trees under utility wires or other obstructions where normal pruning practices are impractical may be exempted from this section of the City's determination."
- Trees designated for preservation on a development site — "In the event either a deciduous or evergreen tree designated for preservation is destroyed or razed, such tree must be replaced with a new tree at a rate of two replaced trees for every one destroyed or removed."
- Historic trees — "those that are designated by the Heritage Commission as being of notable historical interest and value due to its association with the physical and cultural development of the City of Independence."
- Uniquely valuable trees — "a tree that, by virtue of: 1) size, 2) species and/or 3) cultural influence, has particular value to the public. To be designated as uniquely valuable the tree must meet two of the above three criteria."
- Woodlands on development sites — "At least 50 percent of all woodlands that have a contiguous tree canopy of one acre or more must be preserved."
How to apply in Independence
- 1
For a tree in your own yard there is nothing to apply for.
- 2
These steps are for a street tree or a tree in a public place, filed with the City Forester.
- 3
To trim, spray, preserve or remove, the application must state "1. Kind of treatment to be administered. 2. Kind of nearest trees or other plants on adjoining property. 3. Condition of nearest trees or other plants on adjoining property. 4. Other information as the City Forester may reasonably require."
- 4
To plant fewer than four trees, give number, kind, proposed location, size, variety, method of planting and soil condition. Four or more requires "two drawings no larger than 24 inches by 36 inches, drawn in ink to scale of one inch to 100 feet."
- 5
On removal, "Any person removing street trees or other plants shall take measures deemed necessary by the City Forester to protect the safety of the general public from harm or injury," and "Tree stumps must be grubbed out as required by the City Forester."
- 6
No online form or portal is published. Call Parks, Recreation and Tourism at (816) 325-7210.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No tree removal permit fee exists, because there is no private tree removal permit. The code sets no fee for the street tree permit either, and the city's adopted 2025-2026 Schedule of Fees has no tree, forestry or tree removal line item. A tree service does pay for an ordinary business license: "for gross annual receipts of $25,000 or less, the fee is $75.00; for gross receipts over $25,000, the fee is $75.00 plus $0.31 for each $1,000 or part thereof over $25,000."
- Penalties
- Street tree violations under Section 13.02.012 draw "a fine of not less than $10.00 nor more than $500.00," and the defective-tree article at Section 17.12.003 carries the same range. Clearing or grubbing in violation of Article 13 draws "a fine of not less than $100.00 and not more than $500.00. Each such violation shall constitute a separate and distinct offense and shall be punishable as such." On a development site, failing to plant a required replacement tree costs "a penalty of $500.00 for each tree not replaced on the property." When the city abates a hazardous tree the special tax bill adds "a charge of $10.00 for inspecting the premises, and a further charge of $10.00 for computing, making, certifying, recording and issuing the special tax bill."
- Ordinance
- City of Independence Code of Ordinances Chapter 13 (Parks and Recreation), Article 2 — Street Trees, Sections 13.02.001 through 13.02.012, which carries no ordinance history notes and so stands as codified. Private hazard trees are at Chapter 17 (Municipal Services Regulations), Article 12 — Defective Trees, Sections 17.12.001 through 17.12.003, adopted by Ord. No. 19419 Section 1 on March 6, 2023 and amended by Ord. No. 19485 Section 1 on September 18, 2023. Clearing and grubbing is at Chapter 17, Article 13, adopted by Ord. Nos. 19419, 19485 and 19502 (November 6, 2023). Development-side tree preservation is in Chapter 14, the Unified Development Ordinance, at 14-500-03 and 14-607-02, adopted by Ord. No. 19485 Section 1 on September 18, 2023. Code current through Ordinance No. 19802, adopted April 20, 2026 (Supp. No. 13). No ordinance in Supplements 8 through 13 amended any tree provision.
Worth knowing
- The city can make you take a tree down. Section 17.12.001 reaches "any tree located on private property that is dead or defective by reason of decay, disease, infestation by insect or damage of any kind that constitutes a hazard to the safety of persons or of property," and gives the Director of Municipal Services "the power to enter upon any private property at all reasonable times to inspect and investigate any tree that may be in a hazardous condition." If you do not comply after notice, the city does the work and levies a special tax bill against the property.
- You owe clearance over the street. Section 17.01.003(C): "It shall be unlawful for the owner or occupant of any property to allow the limbs of any tree to extend lower than 15 feet above the level of the street past the curb line into the street." Corner lots have a 30-inch sight triangle measured 25 feet along the right-of-way and a nine-foot limb clearance.
- Land clearing is a separate permit and it does reach private land. Section 17.13.002: "An erosion control permit is required for all clearing, grubbing, grading and building construction projects, except where land disruption is 1,000 square feet or less." Surety runs "in the amount of $1,000.00 per acre or fraction thereof, with a maximum not to exceed $10,000.00." Taking down one yard tree does not disturb 1,000 square feet; clearing a lot does.
- Independence has no tree-trimmer or arborist license. The contractor licensing article defines a contractor as anyone who undertakes "to construct, alter, repair, or demolish any structure" and creates only four classes, none of which covers tree work. There is no bond, no insurance minimum and no exam. A tree service does need an ordinary business license, and enforcement runs against the business, not you: "The continued operation of a business without a current and valid business license shall be deemed a nuisance," punishable by "a fine of not more than $500.00 per day upon conviction." Nothing makes it unlawful for a homeowner to hire an unlicensed tree service.
- Independence runs its own electric utility. Independence Power and Light crews "work year round to keep trees trimmed away from the main transmission and distribution lines," but "Trimming trees near the service line to a home, from the pole to the house, is the responsibility of the homeowner." The UDO backs the utility up: "Independence Power and Light may remove trees near overhead power lines which cause a hazard to maintaining proper electrical service," and emergency removals to restore service need no prior approval. Call the Tree Trimming Division at (816) 325-7557.
- What you may plant in the right-of-way is restricted. Section 13.02.011 publishes a Table of Acceptable Trees, and 14-503-17-B prohibits Callery and Bradford pear "all varietals and hybrids," all ash species, Siberian elm, female cottonwood and female ginkgo.
- The single-family exemption in the development code is explicit: "A tree preservation plan is not required for building permits for individual single-family residential lots unless so stated as a part of the final plat approval, and with exception to the location of a specially designated tree."
- The weeds ordinance does not reach trees. It requires premises "maintained free from weeds or plant growth in excess of seven (7) inches" but defines weeds as "all grasses, annual plants and vegetation, other than trees or shrubs," and carves out "Wooded areas of land densely covered with trees, shrubs and vegetation where the land, trees, shrubs and vegetation are and continue to remain uncultivated."
- Independence has a five-member Tree Commission, but it is advisory only: it may "study, investigate, advise, report, and recommend ... for the care, selection, preservation, trimming, planting, replanting, removal, or disposition of street trees." The city has been a Tree City USA for 25 consecutive years as of the 2024 award.
- Missouri law punishes cutting a tree that is not yours. RSMo 537.340 awards treble damages for cutting down, injuring or destroying "any tree placed or growing for use, shade or ornament" on another person's land, and the claimant "need not prove negligence or intent."
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.
- — No independencemo.gov page states in plain English whether a homeowner needs a tree permit. The answer here comes from the scope language of the ordinances themselves, read directly, not from a city FAQ.
- — No application form or intake channel is published for the street tree permit. Whether it is filed by phone, email, in person at the Truman Memorial Building or through the Community Development portal is unconfirmed.
- — Fee amounts generally. The city publishes its Schedule of Fees only as image-based documents with an obfuscated embedded font, so the erosion control and right-of-way permit dollar figures could not be read. The text index of that schedule contains no tree line item at all.
- — A phone discrepancy reported both ways: the Parks, Recreation and Tourism landing page lists (816) 325-7210, while the city's Frequently Used Numbers directory lists 816-325-7370 as the Parks and Recreation main line. Both are current city pages, and no direct City Forester extension is published.
- — A drafting ambiguity in the development code. Section 14-500-03-C opens "The Community Development Department must approve all requests for tree removal if one or more of the following conditions are present," which read literally could sweep broadly. Read in context it sits inside a development standard triggered by preliminary plat or site plan approval, and its own subsection exempts individual single-family lots. Both readings are reported rather than reconciled.
- — Sections 13.02.006 and 13.02.007 do not exist in the current code, which jumps from 13.02.005 to 13.02.008 with no reserved placeholder. In a standard street tree ordinance those positions hold bond and insurance requirements for contractors working in public places, so Independence appears to impose none, but whether they were repealed or lost in republication could not be determined.
- — The Heritage Commission has landmark designation power and the development code references trees it designates, but the Historic Landmark Overlay list contains only buildings and sites. No tree is on it and no historic-tree nomination procedure appears in the code.
- — Jackson County rules for unincorporated areas outside the city limits.
Sources
- Independence Code Ch. 13, Art. 2 — Street Trees (Municode)
- Independence Code Ch. 17, Art. 12 — Defective Trees (Municode)
- Independence Code Ch. 17, Art. 13 — Clearing and Grubbing (Municode)
- Independence UDO 14-500 — Natural Resource Preservation and tree preservation (Municode)
- Independence Code Ch. 4, Art. 2 — Contractor Licensing Requirements (Municode)
- City of Independence — Parks, Recreation and Tourism
- City of Independence — Tree Commission
- Independence Power and Light — tree trimming FAQ
- City of Independence — City Code and codification currency
- RSMo 537.340 — Trespass on realty, treble damages