Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Kenner has the sharpest private-side trigger in this file, and it is about acreage, not about a single tree. Unified Development Code Section 9.08(a) requires a tree removal permit "prior to clearing any tract of land" when either the land is zoned commercial, office, industrial or institutional and holds a tree of twelve-inch DBH or greater, OR the clearing is "for proposed residential development(s) greater than one (1) acre." A homeowner taking one tree out of an ordinary Kenner back yard is not clearing a tract for a development and the landscape article expressly exempts single-family and two-family dwellings - but if you are clearing more than an acre for a residential project, you need the permit first. Separately, the tree in the dedicated street area out front needs a 25-dollar permit from Public Works, and a bigger tree needs one permit per tree.
Size threshold
Two thresholds, in two different places. UDC Section 9.08(a)(1): a permit is required where "Tree clearing is proposed for land zoned for commercial, office, industrial or institutional development(s) and the site contains tree(s) with twelve-inch DBH or greater." Section 9.08(a)(2) uses acreage instead of size: "Tree clearing is for proposed residential development(s) greater than one (1) acre." For public trees, the four-inch line controls how many permits you buy - Section 9.09(b)(4): "The application permit fee shall be twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per permit for all activities involving trees and shrubs with trunks less than four (4) inches in diameter. A separate permit shall be required for each tree or shrub with a trunk four (4) inches or greater in diameter."
What's protected in Kenner
- Trees on any public right-of-way or public property. UDC Section 9.09(b)(1): "No person, including public utility companies, is permitted to remove any tree or shrub growing within a dedicated street area of a public right-of-way or other public property without a permit from the Director of the Department of Public Works. Unless a permit is obtained from the Director of the Department of Public Works, it is unlawful to cut, trim, remove, spray, treat or plant any tree, shrub, hedge, or other plant upon a public right-of-way or other public property within the City."
- Public tree roots. Section 9.09(a)(1): "No person is permitted to cut, disturb, or interfere in any way with the roots of any public tree."
- Significant trees on a tract being cleared for development, under the Section 9.08(a) tree removal permit.
- Trees credited on an approved tree preservation plan, for eight years. Section 9.08(b)(2)(d): "If a preserved tree dies within eight (8) years, it is the responsibility of the owner to replace that tree with the number of trees credited on a Class A or B matching basis within six (6) months."
- Species specifically NOT protected, which is unusual enough to be worth knowing. Section 9.08(b)(2)(a) denies preservation credit to "Chinese Tallow (Sapium sebiferum), Black Willow (Salix nigra), Cottonwood (Populus deltoids), Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora) and other trees with life spans of twenty (20) years or less or invasive species."
How to apply in Kenner
- 1
First decide which side of Section 9.08(a) you are on. Removing a tree from an existing single-family or two-family lot is not "clearing a tract of land" for a development, and Section 9.04(a)(1) exempts those dwellings from the landscape article. Clearing more than an acre for a residential development, or clearing a commercially zoned site holding a 12-inch DBH tree, requires the tree removal permit first.
- 2
For a tree on the right-of-way, apply to the Department of Public Works. Section 9.09(b)(2): the application "shall set forth the location in which the vegetation is to be planted, removed from or trimmed."
- 3
Section 9.09(b)(3) requires "a notarized affidavit in which the applicant agrees to compensate the City for any damages to public property and to waive all claims against the City for personal and property damage... and also agree to indemnify the City against any claims of third parties."
- 4
Pay 25 dollars, or 25 dollars per tree if any trunk is four inches or more in diameter.
- 5
Section 9.09(b)(7) lists the approvable grounds for removal - growth that cannot be corrected by proper trimming, damage from the elements or age or disease, an insecure root system, interference with street use, root interference with subsurface sewer or utility facilities, "or because of any other conditions which he finds whereby such removal will be in the public interest."
- 6
If you are denied, Section 9.09(b)(8) entitles you to written reasons, and Section 9.09(b)(9) lets you ask the Director of Public Works to reconsider "within thirty (30) days from the date on which the written refusal was issued."
- 7
Landscape plans go elsewhere: Section 9.04(b)(1) requires "Three (3) sets of each plan" submitted to the Director of the Department of Inspections and Code Enforcement, prepared under Section 9.04(c)(1) "by a landscape architect or landscape horticulturist licensed in Louisiana."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- UDC Section 9.09(b)(4) sets the public-property permit at "twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per permit for all activities involving trees and shrubs with trunks less than four (4) inches in diameter," with "A separate permit... required for each tree or shrub with a trunk four (4) inches or greater in diameter." No fee is stated in the code for the Section 9.08 tree removal permit.
- Penalties
- UDC Section 9.09(e): "Willful destruction of trees on public property shall render the person responsible liable for the actual cost of replacement, in addition to a fine of two hundred ($200.00) dollars for a small tree and five hundred ($500.00) dollars for a large tree, or be imprisoned no more than thirty (30) days, or both. In addition to the fine, the responsible party shall replace the damaged tree(s) with a specimen(s) of equal size and caliper, as approved by the Director of the Department of Planning, including a five (5) year warranty." Where in-kind replacement is impossible, the shortfall is made up "through the planting of as many additional trees as are required to match the monetary value of the destroyed tree," valued by the Guide for Plant Appraisal published by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers. Section 9.02 adds that no building permit or certificate of occupancy may issue where the article has not been complied with, and that failure to maintain is cause for revoking the certificate of occupancy.
- Ordinance
- Unified Development Code of the City of Kenner, Louisiana, Article IX - Landscaping Regulations, Sections 9.01 through 9.09. Municode's editor's note is explicit about its origin: "Printed herein is the United Development Code, adopted by Ord. No. 11,062 on March 17, 2016. The former Appendix A pertained to Zoning." The UDC is printed as Appendix A to the Kenner Code of Ordinances. Code current through Ordinance No. 12,990, enacted December 4, 2025 (Supp. No. 14).
Worth knowing
- The exemption is stated by unit count and it is generous. Section 9.04(a)(1) applies the landscape provisions to "All new development projects with the exception of single-family dwellings, two-family dwellings, and multifamily dwellings of five (5) units or less." Section 9.04(a)(4) repeats the same exemption for parking lot work.
- Once a building permit is issued, undesignated trees come out freely. Section 9.08(b)(2)(c): "Following the issuance of a building permit, trees not designated for tree preservation on an approved landscape plan may be removed."
- Kenner's preservation credit table can be satisfied by dripline spread instead of trunk diameter, which is rare. Table IX-1 credits 5 trees for a specimen with a dripline "50 feet or greater in spread" OR a trunk "26 inches or greater in diameter," and scales down from there to 2 credits at a 6 to 10 foot spread or 3 to 8 inches diameter.
- A long-standing private maintainer of public property keeps a partial exemption, but not for removal. Section 9.09(b)(1)(a): where a private person or company maintained public property before the ordinance took effect, they are exempt for "grass cutting, trimming, spraying, treatment and replacement of dead plants," but "This exemption does not apply to the removal of trees or to new tree or shrub planting."
- Utility companies with a Kenner franchise agreement are exempt from the permit requirement entirely under Section 9.09(b)(1)(b), and must file an annual trim plan with the Planning Department by January 31 under Section 9.09(c)(1).
- The code cites state arborist law by section number, which is a good sign it is enforced. Section 9.09(c)(3) names "La. Rev. Stat. 3:3808, and the Horticultural Commission Regulation, Louisiana Administrative Code 7:XXIX.117 (I)," bars utility arborists from using climbing irons in trees not being removed except in remote locations, and requires them to "prominently display the license during all work."
- Kenner's tree protection zone is the canopy, not a calculated radius. Section 9.08(c)(1): "The area beneath the canopy of a tree shall be designated as a tree protection zone and kept safe from harmful impact during site development and construction." Protected trees get a fence at least five feet high.
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 Kenner homeowner removing one tree from an existing yard needs the Section 9.08 permit. The provision is triggered by "clearing any tract of land" for a development and the landscape article exempts single-family and two-family dwellings, so the better reading is no - but the ordinance does not say so in those words, and no city page answers the question. Call Public Works at 504-468-7515 before you cut a large tree.
- — The fee, form and turnaround for the Section 9.08 tree removal permit. The code sets a fee only for the Section 9.09 public-property permit.
- — Whether Jefferson Parish's own tree ordinance reaches inside the Kenner city limits. Kenner is a municipality within Jefferson Parish and the parish maintains a separate code; the interaction was not verified.
- — Whether Kenner licenses or registers tree services locally. No arborist licensing provision was found in chapter 10 (Licenses and Taxation).
- — Whether Section 9.08(a)(2), which speaks of "residential development(s) greater than one (1) acre," measures the acre by the tract being cleared or by the whole development site. The text does not say.
- — The exact adoption date and text of any amendment to UDC Article IX since March 17, 2016. Municode prints no history note on any Section 9.xx.
- — Email addresses for the Kenner Public Works and Inspection and Code Enforcement directors. The city publishes contact forms.
Sources
- Kenner Unified Development Code Article IX - Landscaping Regulations (Municode)
- Kenner Code of Ordinances Appendix A - Unified Development Code, adoption note (Municode)
- City of Kenner - Public Works Department (contact)
- City of Kenner - Inspection and Code Enforcement Department (contact)
- Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry - Arborist Licensing