Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Johns Creek rewrote its tree ordinance on July 28, 2025 specifically to take pressure off homeowners, and the new section says it directly: "Removal of any tree, regardless of size, from a developed residentially zoned, single-family lot, is permitted without a tree removal permit" as long as the tree is not in a protected zone. A protected zone means a zoning buffer, a state waters or stream or tributary buffer, a required landscape strip, a tree save area, designated open space, or the 2,000-foot Chattahoochee River Corridor. If your tree is in one of those, or is a specimen tree, you need permission. The fee is $50 per request. There is no allowance of N trees per year in Johns Creek.
Size threshold
No diameter triggers the permit on a developed single-family lot. Section 109-196(a): "Removal of any tree, regardless of size, from a developed residentially zoned, single-family lot, is permitted without a tree removal permit when meeting the following requirements: (1) The tree is not located within a protected zone. (2) The tree poses an immediate threat or danger to falling on the primary residential dwelling and is not located within a protected zone." Diameter matters only for specimen status, and section 109-196(b) sets that at 32 inches DBH for large hardwoods and softwoods, 12 inches for small native flowering species such as dogwood, redbud and sourwood, and expressly states that a "Pine Tree of any size is not classified as a Specimen Tree."
What's protected in Johns Creek
- Anything in a "protected zone," which the ordinance defines as including "Critical root zone plus an additional three feet; all areas of a parcel required to remain in open space," plus "All areas required as landscape strips and/or buffers (including zoning buffers and state water buffers and tributary buffers), and the Chattahoochee River Corridor," plus "Tree save areas according to provisions of the zoning ordinance of the city, conditions of zoning, use permit or variance approval."
- Specimen trees, which section 109-195(c) protects absolutely: "Notwithstanding any of the other requirements of these regulations, it shall be unlawful to remove a specimen tree without the express written permission of the city arborist or authorized agent."
- Heritage trees — "a tree which is designated upon approval by the director of the community development department or his designee to be of notable historical value or interest because of its age, size or historical association."
- Trees in a zoning buffer, where the city states flatly "You are not allowed to remove any healthy trees in a zoning buffer," and cleaning undergrowth from a buffer is itself prohibited without supervision.
- Trees in a landscape strip and living trees in a stream buffer, both of which the city bars outright rather than permits.
- Trees in the public right-of-way or on a neighbour's property, which a homeowner may never remove.
How to apply in Johns Creek
- 1
Self-evaluate first. The city publishes a Tree Removal Self-Evaluation Flow Chart with five questions: is it a specimen tree, is it in a zoning buffer, a landscape strip, a stream buffer, or the River Corridor. "If your answer to each is 'no,' then you do not need a permit to remove the trees."
- 2
If any answer is yes, apply through the Customer Self-Service portal under Land Development, permit type Tree Removal. The city states that "All tree removal requests are to be made using the City's Customer Self-Service (CSS) portal."
- 3
To prove a tree is dead or diseased, submit an ISA-certified arborist report describing the trees, what is wrong with them and why they cannot be saved, their location on a site plan or aerial map, and photos including close-ups of the diseased or infested areas, signed with the arborist's certification number.
- 4
For a River Corridor property, add a tree location map and an as-built survey showing allowable, existing and proposed land disturbance credits.
- 5
Pay the $50 per-request fee.
- 6
Appeals run 30 days to the Community Development Director from a city arborist decision, then 30 days from the Director to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
- 7
Separately, a Land Disturbance Permit is required when 1,000 or more square feet of ground disturbance is proposed, and any land disturbance or building permit pulls in the full tree preservation review.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- The Community Development fee schedule lists, under Land Development environmental fees, "Tree Removal Permit (per request) — $50," alongside a $30 permits and plan review administration fee and a $50 re-inspection fee for non-compliance. The schedule is footer-dated as adopted July 8, 2024.
- Penalties
- Section 109-190: "Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall be punished as provided in section 1-7. Each owner of any property wherein a violation exists shall be jointly and severally responsible for said violations." Section 1-7(c) sets "a fine not exceeding $1,000.00, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or any combination thereof," with each day of a continuing violation a separate offense. Section 109-197 requires an immediate stop-work order for tree removal in a buffer or tree save area and for "Illegal removal or disturbance of specimen tree, heritage tree or stand of trees." The Administrative Guidelines double the recompense for an unpermitted specimen removal: "If a specimen tree or trees are removed without permission... the unit value of the specimen tree is doubled." A 30-inch tree worth 14.7 units becomes 29.4.
- Ordinance
- City of Johns Creek Code of Ordinances, Chapter 109 (Natural Resources and Environmental Protection), Article VII — Tree Preservation, sections 109-189 through 109-210. Ordinance 2025-07-21, text amendment case A-25-003, adopted July 28, 2025, deleted Article VII in its entirety and replaced it, adding the new section 109-196 for developed single-family lots. The prior ordinance was Ord. No. O2006-12-27, adopted December 19, 2006 at incorporation. The Administrative Guidelines of the Tree Preservation Ordinance, updated July 2025, are incorporated by reference and control alongside the ordinance.
Worth knowing
- The July 2025 rewrite is the whole story. The ordinance's own recitals say that "relief to the tree removal process for residents of developed single-family residential lots will be provided with the adoption of this amendment," and the city summarises the amendment as one that "Amended the ordinance to provide options to reduce the burden of the tree removal process for residents." Anything written about Johns Creek tree rules before August 2025 is stale.
- The reported allowance of a few trees per year does not exist. A full read of the ordinance, the July 2025 Administrative Guidelines, the flow chart, the fee schedule and both city FAQ pages turns up no per-year or per-lot numeric allowance. The actual mechanism is the categorical exemption for developed single-family lots outside protected zones.
- Recompense for a specimen removal on a residential lot is light by metro standards. Section 109-196(c): "Plant one 15-gallon or 1" - 1.5" caliper tree for each healthy specimen tree removed."
- A hazard tree threatening the house is covered without a permit, provided it is outside a protected zone. Inside a stream buffer, emergency work to preserve life or property is allowed but must be reported to the city on the next business day, with a permit application within ten days.
- Even where a dead tree in a stream buffer is approved, the city bars stump removal and machinery: trees "can only be removed manually by personal equipment, and no motorized or heavy machinery can be used."
- Johns Creek does not license tree services, but every business operating in the city must hold an Occupation Tax Certificate. The Revenue Division is at 678-512-3242. The homeowner remains jointly and severally liable for any violation regardless of who did the cutting, so verify the certificate and insurance yourself.
- HOA covenants are separate and the city will not enforce them: "These deeds and covenants are private agreements between property owners and are not enforced by the City." Zoning buffers and landscape strips, by contrast, are city-enforced and are found in zoning conditions and on recorded final plats.
- Fulton County has no role. Johns Creek is a Local Issuing Authority certified by Georgia EPD and handles its own land disturbance permits and enforcement.
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.
- — Which specimen table currently governs a homeowner. Section 109-196(b) of the July 2025 ordinance sets 32 inches for large hardwoods and softwoods, 12 inches for small native flowering species, and exempts pines of any size. The city's Tree Removal Self-Evaluation Flow Chart, uploaded March 2024 and still linked from the live Land Development page, uses a stricter table: 27 inches for large hardwoods, 24 inches for beech, 24 inches for large softwoods including pine, and 10 inches for small native flowering species. The same stricter table also appears in Appendix B of the July 2025 Administrative Guidelines, in the development context. A homeowner with a 28-inch oak gets opposite answers from the two documents. This is the single question worth a phone call to 678-512-3200.
- — The codified text on Municode is stale. It is codified only through Ordinance No. 2025-06-18 of June 9, 2025 and still displays the 2006 article, with no editor's note flagging the July 28, 2025 replacement. Everything above is keyed to the signed July 2025 ordinance PDF published by the city.
- — Section 109-196(a) is internally odd. Its two subsections are introduced as conjunctive requirements, but (2) simply restates (1)'s condition, so the operative test in both prongs is that the tree is not in a protected zone. Reported as written rather than resolved.
- — Section 109-195(c) makes it unlawful to remove a specimen tree without written arborist permission "notwithstanding any of the other requirements," while 109-196(a) permits removal of any tree regardless of size on a developed single-family lot outside a protected zone, and 109-196(c) then prescribes recompense for specimen removal on such lots. All three are reported.
- — The city's own "Do I Need a Permit?" page places tree removal in the Yes column with no qualifier, while the Land Development and Planning and Zoning FAQ pages both say Maybe. The page itself carries a disclaimer directing readers to call 678-512-3250.
- — The city arborist is not named anywhere on johnscreekga.gov. Route through Land Development.
- — Whether the $50 fee is charged when review concludes no permit was needed, or is refundable on denial.
- — Whether a given lot contains a protected zone. That depends on the recorded plat, zoning conditions and proximity to state waters or the River Corridor, and cannot be answered generically.
- — Stream buffer distances are published inconsistently. The code sets a 50-foot undisturbed natural vegetative buffer plus a 25-foot impervious setback; the flow chart frames it as a 25-foot state buffer plus a 50-foot city buffer and adds a 100-foot buffer along perennial streams within 7 miles upstream of a public water supply intake; another city page references a 75-foot stream buffer. All are reported as published.
Sources
- Ordinance 2025-07-21 — amending Chapter 109 Article VII, Tree Preservation, adopted July 28, 2025 (PDF)
- Johns Creek Administrative Guidelines of the Tree Preservation Ordinance, updated July 2025 (PDF)
- Johns Creek Tree Removal Self-Evaluation Flow Chart (PDF)
- Johns Creek Community Development fee schedule (PDF)
- City of Johns Creek — Land Development
- City of Johns Creek — Text Amendment Updates (lists A-25-003)
- City of Johns Creek — Customer Self-Service portal information
- Johns Creek Code Chapter 109 Article VII (Municode; shows superseded 2006 text)