Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Kansas City does not require a homeowner to get a permit to remove a tree on their own lot, and no trunk size changes that. The city tree chapter is scoped to the street: it is unlawful to excavate in a street to plant a tree without a permit, and unlawful "for any person to trim any trees standing in the streets of the city ... except under the direction of the commissioner of streets." Nothing there reaches a tree standing on private ground. The 2023 tree preservation ordinance that people hear about is a development regulation tied to land disturbance permits of an acre or more, and it expressly exempts an "Application for building permit for a single family detached house on a single previously platted lot" and "Owners and occupants of premises containing a dwelling structure, performing regular maintenance and cultivation of trees on the premises." What Kansas City does regulate hard is your tree company: cutting or trimming trees for hire without a city arborist license is a misdemeanor.
Size threshold
None for a private residential removal. The development ordinance measures acres of canopy rather than trunk diameter: "Areas of contiguous tree canopy cover of one acre or more on the entire development site shall be preserved and protected," where tree canopy cover means a "Grouping of trees of one acre or larger in area" and contiguous canopy cover means "Trees having crowns that touch or having trunks within 50 feet of another. Shall be a minimum of 35 feet wide." The code defines a tree as one "at maturity normally attaining a trunk diameter greater than 3 inches at DBH and a height of over 10 feet," which is a definition, not a permit trigger.
What's protected in Kansas City
- Street trees — "It shall be unlawful for any person to trim any trees standing in the streets of the city, except upon boulevards and other streets under control of the board of parks and recreation commissioners, except under the direction of the commissioner of streets."
- Boulevard, parkway and park trees, which fall under the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners rather than the streets commissioner — "It shall be unlawful for any person to trim any trees standing in the streets, boulevards, parks or parkways of the city under the control of the board of parks and recreation commissioners, except under the authority of the board."
- Trees preserved under an approved development tree plan, which stay protected forever — "Trees planted or preserved in accordance with the approved preservation and protection plan, mitigation plan, and landscape plan per 88-425 are protected in perpetuity."
- Contiguous canopy of one acre or more on a development site.
- Diseased elm wood, which is banned outright rather than permitted — "No person shall sell, buy, give away, keep or permit to be kept any elm tree or branch which has been cut because of being afflicted with Dutch elm disease."
- Vegetation inside a stream buffer under the separate stream buffer article of the development code.
How to apply in Kansas City
- 1
For a tree on your own lot there is nothing to apply for. No permit, no notification, no fee.
- 2
For a tree in the street right-of-way, the parkway or a boulevard, contact 311. Call 816-513-1313, use the myKCMO app, or email 311callcenter@kcmo.org and ask for City Forestry.
- 3
A city forester issues the permit to prune, remove or plant, and the city states there is no cost to a resident.
- 4
If you are planting, the species and location are stated on the permit, planting must follow the KCMO Tree Planting Specifications, and the city issues written acceptance on completion.
- 5
No online application form was located; the process runs through 311.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Nothing for a tree on your own lot, because there is no permit. Kansas City Parks Forestry and Conservation states that its foresters "can issue permits to citizens to perform pruning, removal and planting of trees themselves. There is no cost to a resident for obtaining a tree permit." Your tree company pays $50: the arborist license is "Per year .....$50.00," nontransferable and expiring at the end of each calendar year, with no proration below $10. On a development site, paying in lieu of replanting is capped: "The tree replacement cost per caliper inch shall be a maximum of $185."
- Penalties
- Nuisance violations, including a hazardous tree, run on a repeat-offender ladder: "For the first violation within the 12-month period preceding the violation date, no more than $200.00; second, no more than $275.00; third, no more than $350.00; For fourth and any subsequent violation, no more than $450.00," and "For any violation of this nuisance code found to endanger the health or welfare of others, the court may impose a fine and/or a jail sentence of not more than 180 days," with every day a separate offense. Doing tree work for hire without an arborist license is heavier: the violator "shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $500.00 or imprisoned for a period of not more than 60 days, or both fined and imprisoned, at the discretion of the court." Abatement costs become "a personal debt against the person or persons who were the owners of record" and "a lien on the property until paid," with administrative costs capped at $500.
- Ordinance
- Kansas City Code of Ordinances Chapter 64 (Streets, Sidewalks and Public Places), Article XI — Trees, Sections 64-411 through 64-418. All eight sections derive from the Code of General Ordinances 1967, Sections 30.160 through 30.167, and carry no amending ordinances, so the street tree law has not been rewritten in 2024, 2025 or 2026. Arborist licensing is at Chapter 40, Article VI, Sections 40-332 through 40-335, with the fee at Section 40-71 (Ord. No. 42979, November 21, 1975). Hazardous trees are at Section 48-29 (Ord. No. 971346, October 2, 1997; Ord. No. 190718, September 26, 2019), and the vegetation nuisance section was repealed and re-enacted by Ord. No. 250637 on September 11, 2025. Development-side tree preservation is Zoning and Development Code 88-424, adopted by Ordinance No. 220961 on March 16, 2023 and amended at 88-424-13 by Ord. No. 240447 on June 27, 2024. The Code of Ordinances is "Codified through Ordinance No. 260342, enacted April 16, 2026 (Supplement No. 139)" and the Zoning and Development Code through Ordinance No. 250639, enacted September 11, 2025 (Supplement No. 37).
Worth knowing
- The real Kansas City rule is about who you hire. Section 40-332: "It shall be unlawful for any person to advertise for, contract for or engage in the business of cutting, trimming, pruning, removing, spraying, feeding or applying chemicals to or otherwise treating trees for hire unless such person shall have an arborist's license." Utilities regulated under RSMo chapters 386 to 394 are exempt.
- The license has teeth. To get one, a company must file "A satisfactory public liability insurance policy ... in the sum of at least $50,000.00 for each person injured and in the sum of at least $100,000.00 in the case of injury of two or more persons in any one accident, and in the sum of at least $10,000.00 for damage to property," and must have "An established business location and telephone listed either in the name of the applicant or in the name of his business."
- There is a free, thirty-second way to spot an unlicensed crew. Section 40-334 requires the business name and address on both sides of every truck and trailer in letters "not less than three inches in height ... readily distinguished and read at a distance of at least 60 feet." An unmarked truck is a code violation on its face.
- You have an affirmative duty to deal with an unsafe tree. Section 64-417(a): "No person, either as owner or tenant of real estate on which there are trees, shall permit any tree or branch thereof situated on such real estate to overhang a public street or adjoining property where such tree or branch so overhanging is liable to fall and do injury ... and the maintenance of such unsafe tree or branch is declared to be a nuisance." Subsection (b) lets the commissioner of streets "enter upon private property to remove the unsafe tree or branch at the expense of the owner." Section 48-29 adds that "A live or dead tree which constitutes a hazard to the safety of persons or of property, private or public is hereby declared to constitute a nuisance."
- You must keep branches clear of the sidewalk even on the city's parkway tree. Section 64-416: "Every owner or occupant of any house, building, lot or premises shall keep the shade and ornamental trees in the street or sidewalk area in front and along side of such house, building, lot or premises trimmed so that the branches thereof shall be not lower than 7 1/2 feet from the surface of such street or sidewalk."
- Storms and utility work are exempt from the development ordinance, which carves out "Emergency tree removal due to storm damage, accidental causes, or to ensure public safety when pruning is impractical, as determined by the city forester," plus utility line clearance, airport and FAA removals, orchards, nurseries and tree farms, and existing agricultural use. Storm response runs 24/7 through 311.
- On emerald ash borer, Kansas City is blunt about where the line falls: "The homeowner is responsible for any necessary action in regards to trees on their property. City trees that become infested should be reported to the 311 Action Center." There are roughly 20,000 ash trees on public property and more than 400,000 on private property in the city. Free Saturday leaf and brush drop-off is at 11660 N. Main Street, 1815 N. Chouteau Trafficway and 10301 Raytown Road.
- The city is trying to grow canopy, not shrink it. The tree preservation ordinance cites the Urban Forest Master Plan adopted by Council Resolution No. 200143 on May 21, 2020, with a "goal of 35 percent tree canopy cover for the city." Payment-in-lieu money goes to a tree planting fund split half to the council district and half citywide and "must be used within 15 years." Kansas City also won a $12 million USDA Urban and Community Forestry grant in 2023 and gives away free trees.
- The street tree planting mandate falls on builders, not on you. It applies only to "construction of any principal building" or an addition exceeding ten percent of gross floor area, and then "At least one street tree is required for each 30 feet of street frontage."
- 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.
- — A contradiction about removing a right-of-way tree, reported both ways. Chapter 64 Article XI expressly requires a permit only to plant or set a tree in a street and to trim a street tree; no code section requires a permit to remove one. KC Parks nonetheless states its foresters "can issue permits to citizens to perform pruning, removal and planting of trees themselves." No code section settles it. Call 311 before touching a parkway tree.
- — No direct published phone line for Forestry and Conservation. kcparks.org routes all forestry inquiries to 311, the myKCMO app or parks@kcmo.org. The direct numbers on that page belong to Park Rangers, not foresters.
- — No online tree permit application form exists on kcparks.org or kcmo.gov that could be located; the process appears to be a phone or 311 request.
- — A dead charter cross-reference. Section 2-332 designates the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners as the agency for "tree protection districts which are provided for in section 287.1 of the Charter," and the Chapter 64 footnote repeats it, but the current Charter has no Section 287.1 and its sections run 101 through 1212. Whether any tree protection district exists today could not be confirmed.
- — No landmark, heritage or champion tree designation program was found in the Code of Ordinances, the Zoning and Development Code overlay districts, or on city websites. The Historic Overlay District contains no tree provisions. KC Parks runs a Commemorative Tree and Bench Program, but that is a donation program, not a protective designation.
- — Whether it is unlawful for a homeowner to hire an unlicensed tree service. The phrase "advertise for, contract for or engage in the business of ... treating trees for hire" could arguably be read to reach a customer, but nothing in Chapter 40 says so, and the only related section reaches "every manager, agent, officer or employee of any such person who shall assist any such person in engaging in such unlicensed activity after receiving notice." Both readings are reported; do not assume you can be cited for hiring.
- — Whether the $50 statutory arborist fee matches the current administered fee. kcmo.gov Business License and Contractor Licensing pages do not mention arborists at all, and the exact application path is not published on a city page.
- — Whether the "no cost" tree permit statement is current. The KC Parks Forestry and Conservation page carries a date of June 7, 2024.
- — Kansas City is a bi-state metro and this entry covers Kansas City, Missouri only. Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa and the rest of the Kansas side have entirely separate rules, as do the Missouri suburbs.
Sources
- KC Code Ch. 64, Art. XI — Trees (Municode)
- KC Code Sec. 40-332 — Arborists, license required (Municode)
- KC Code Sec. 40-71 — Arborist license fee (Municode)
- KC Code Sec. 48-29 — Hazardous trees (Municode)
- KC Zoning and Development Code 88-424 — Tree Preservation and Protection (Municode)
- KC Zoning and Development Code 88-810 — Definitions (Municode)
- KC Parks and Recreation — Forestry and Conservation
- KC Parks — Emerald Ash Borer Information
- City of Kansas City — Canopy Cover KC and Free Trees
- City of Kansas City — 311 Action Center
- RSMo 537.340 — Trespass on realty, treble damages