Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Lafayette rewrote its tree chapter in January 2023 and drew the line clearly. A permit is needed "before any person may remove, cut or plant any tree or shrub on public property or public area(s) of private property" — and the chapter's stated purpose is to regulate trees "on public property, street trees and off-street parking trees." A tree in your own yard is not covered. The strip between your sidewalk and the street is, and so are the parts of commercial property the public walks and drives through.
What's protected in Lafayette
- Trees on public property, including the right-of-way strip between the sidewalk and the street
- Trees in "public area(s) of private property" — defined as areas of private property "that pose a hazard to the traveling public including but not limited to parking lots and business entrances"
- Off-street parking lot trees at new developments, and existing shade trees 6 inches DBH or greater that are being preserved for landscaping credit
- Any tree, branch, dead tree or stump anywhere in the city that becomes a public nuisance — the city can order its removal
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Per the ordinance, twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for a per-project permit and one hundred dollars ($100.00) for an annual permit. The city website lists different figures — see unverified.
- Penalties
- LMC 8.06.990: "Whoever violates any provision of this chapter for which no penalty is otherwise provided, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day that a violation occurs or continues."
- Ordinance
- Lafayette Municipal Code Chapter 8.06 — Trees and Shrubs, enacted by Ord. No. 2022-51 and effective January 9, 2023 (purpose at 8.06.100, definitions at 8.06.110, permit at 8.06.200, nuisance trees at 8.06.410, penalties at 8.06.990).
Worth knowing
- The city removes dead, dying and diseased trees from the strip between the sidewalk and the street at no cost to the property owner, at the City Forester's discretion. Submit a request for an assessment rather than hiring someone yourself.
- Maintenance of a healthy right-of-way tree is the adjacent property owner's responsibility even though the city owns the land. The city's FAQ is blunt about how confusing that is.
- If your right-of-way tree is over 25 feet tall, the city says pruning it requires a right-of-way permit and is best done by a professional arborist.
- Tree work in the right-of-way must be done by a city-licensed tree worker. The city keeps a list of licensed workers and will share it with residents.
- Storm and emergency work is exempt from the permit requirement, as is the routine maintenance a property owner owes on an adjacent right-of-way tree.
- Topping is unlawful on any tree on public grounds or in the right-of-way.
- If a dead or hazardous tree on your own land becomes a nuisance, the City Forester can give you 14 days' notice to remove it, then do the work and lien the cost against the property under Indiana Code 36-1-6-2.
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 fee schedule is current. The codified ordinance sets $25 per project and $100 annually, while the city's Contractors Corner page says removing a dead or dying right-of-way tree costs $75.00 if the tree is not replaced and nothing if it is, with planting and pruning permits free and a $25 annual tree work license. We could not determine which supersedes the other — ask the City Engineer's office.
- — The insurance requirement contradicts too. LMC 8.06.200 requires $1,000,000 bodily injury and $100,000 property damage coverage naming the city as additional insured; the Contractors Corner page states $100,000/$300,000 bodily injury, $50,000 property damage and a $10,000 surety bond.
- — Any diameter threshold for private-property tree removal — the chapter does not create one, because it does not reach private yards.
- — A direct phone line for the City Forester. 765-807-1050 reaches Engineering and Public Works, which houses Urban Forestry; 765-807-1000 is the main city line.