Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Knoxville's Tree Protection Ordinance answers this in its own applicability section: it "shall not apply to any parcel of land currently being used for a single-family dwelling or two-family dwelling." No permit, no diameter limit, no matter how big the tree. Note the wording, though — the exemption is about how the parcel is used, not how it is zoned, so a vacant residential lot with no house on it is not exempt. Three other things can change the answer: the tree is a State of Tennessee Champion, landmark or historic tree; the tree is actually in the treelawn or right-of-way rather than on your lot; or you are grading.
Size threshold
None applies to an occupied single-family or two-family lot. For context, the article states that it "shall apply to all trees two (2) inches in diameter at breast height" — but only on the property it reaches in the first place, which excludes houses. DBH is "made at four and one-half (4.5) feet above the ground." A separate 12-inch figure governs your contractor: "All individuals or companies intending to do tree work for hire on any tree over twelve (12) inches in diameter at one (1) foot off the ground within the city, must register with the city public service department urban forester."
What's protected in Knoxville
- Champion, landmark and historic trees, wherever they stand — "No living tree within the city designated on the State of Tennessee Champion Tree list or designated as a landmark, or historic tree by the State of Tennessee or designated organization, shall be removed or otherwise substantially altered by pruning, trimming, or otherwise cutting more than twenty (20) percent of the woody area of such tree without first obtaining a permit from the urban forester."
- Trees on city property, which the code defines to include "any part of any improved public right-of-way." Section 14-60: "It shall be unlawful for any person, or city employee or contractor to remove any tree on city property without written approval by the urban forester."
- Trees in the treelawn — "An area of maintained property not covered by sidewalk or other paving, located between a public sidewalk and edge of pavement within the right-of-way that can grow vegetation."
- Trees on nonexempt land, including a vacant residential lot with no dwelling on it — "Where a building permit or subdivision approval has not been issued, the destruction of more than twenty-five (25) percent of the trees on any one (1) parcel of nonexempt land, without the prior approval of the urban forester, shall be prohibited."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- Section 14-31 routes tree-protection violations to the general penalty, Section 1-9: "Any person violating any of the provisions of this general penalty article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and conviction thereof shall result in the penalties of a monetary fine not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00) and the repayment of administrative costs incident to the correction of the municipal violation in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) and/or by imprisonment not to exceed thirty (30) days, or both, for each separate offense. Each day any violation of this Code or of any ordinance shall continue shall constitute a separate offense." For a public tree there is an additional charge: the violator "shall be responsible for the reimbursement to the city for the value of the tree described in the latest edition of the Guide for Plant Appraisal by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers."
- Ordinance
- Knoxville Code of Ordinances Chapter 14 (Forestry), Article II — the Tree Protection Ordinance of the City of Knoxville, Sections 14-26 through 14-39; Article III — Trees on Public Property, Sections 14-51 through 14-64. The applicability exemption at Section 14-29, the champion-tree permit at 14-35 and the contractor registry at 14-39 were all set by Ordinance No. O-161-2021, adopted December 14, 2021, which also amended the chapter title. Zoning Appendix B, Article 12.9 (Tree Preservation) was last amended by Ordinance No. O-94-2025, August 19, 2025. Code current through Ordinance No. O-147-2025, enacted November 25, 2025 (Supp. No. 80).
Worth knowing
- The zoning code does not create a homeowner tree permit. Appendix B Article 12 requires a landscape plan only "as part of a site plan review application for multi-family and townhouse development, nonresidential (including mixed-use) development, parking lots, and planned developments," and states plainly that "This Article does not apply to routine landscaping or routine maintenance of existing landscaping." Section 12.9's tree-preservation protections attach to a grading permit.
- Your tree company has an obligation you should check. Registration in the City of Knoxville Tree Maintenance Registry is required by Section 14-39 for any tree over 12 inches, is free, and is enforced against the company: "Individuals or companies in violation of this registry or improperly disposing of wood waste are subject to a stop work order (SWO)... Failure to correct the violation within the time allotted will result in fines to the company (not the property owner)."
- The wood is the contractor's problem, not the curb's. "It is the responsibility of the tree company to remove the wood waste from the property and properly dispose of the material. Disposal of wood material by placing it at the street/city right-of-way for collection will be considered illegal dumping/litter."
- You have an affirmative duty for street-adjacent trees. Section 14-59: "Property owners shall remove all dead, diseased or dangerous trees, or broken or decayed limbs which constitute a menace to the safety of the public. The minimum clearance of any overhanging portion thereof should be eight (8) feet over sidewalks, and twelve (12) feet over all streets."
- Storm rules can be relaxed. Section 14-30: "In case of emergencies such as windstorms, ice storms or other disasters, the requirements of this article may be waived by the urban forester during emergency periods so as not to hamper private and public work to restore order in the city."
- A champion or historic tree permit is hard to get and easy to lose track of: it "shall be issued only upon a satisfactory showing that the tree in question is a public safety concern or is not of such historical or botanical importance that the public interest would be served through the preservation of such trees," and if the urban forester does nothing within thirty days the permit "shall be considered to be denied," with a fifteen-day appeal to city council.
- Lots of mail addressed "Knoxville, TN" is actually in unincorporated Knox County, outside the city limits and outside all of the above.
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 phone number for the Urban Forestry Division or the Urban Forester specifically. None is published; the city routes tree requests through 311.
- — Any fee for the Trees on Public Property permit or the champion/historic tree permit. No tree fee schedule was located, and an absent fee is not proof of a free permit.
- — Whether Kasey Krouse is still the sitting Urban Forester. The page carries no last-updated date, and Section 14-56 provides for the office to be vacant.
- — How the city applies its site-development permit rule — which covers work to "Clear any site by means that causes disturbance of soil" — to routine residential stump grinding. Call Engineering if grading is involved.
- — Knox County rules for unincorporated areas. A keyword sweep of the county code surfaced no tree-protection chapter and no private-property removal permit, but the county codification date could not be confirmed, so treat that as an unverified negative.
- — Whether the Hillside Protection Overlay reaches trees. It contains no tree provision, but it does require a certificate of appropriateness for land disturbance, and its single-family exception covers only "Lots of record for single-family dwellings existing as of the effective date of this Code... where the lot of record is one acre or less."
Sources
- City of Knoxville — Urban Forestry
- City of Knoxville — Tree Maintenance Registry
- City of Knoxville — Application for Trees on Public Property Ordinance (PDF)
- City of Knoxville — Public Service Department
- Knoxville Code Chapter 14 — Forestry (Municode)
- Knoxville Zoning Code Appendix B, Article 12 — Landscape (Municode)