Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Lakewood does not require a permit to remove a tree standing on your own property. Chapter 8.06 of the Municipal Code, the city's tree chapter, points the parks manager's authority at the public way, and its licensing rule carves out "an individual on his or her own property" in so many words. What the code does regulate is the company you hire: anyone doing tree or shrub work in Lakewood for someone else needs a city license, and every tree removal done under contract needs one.
What's protected in Lakewood
- Vegetation in the public way — defined in § 8.06.010 as all streets, public rights-of-way and easements, walkways and sidewalks, public roads, public alleys, public drainage ways, public parks, medians and open space
- Trees in Lakewood's natural areas and parks — pre-approval is required to remove trees over three inches diameter there
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No fee, because no homeowner permit exists. Tree contractors pay "an annual fee as determined by the City of Lakewood" (§ 8.06.110(D)); the code does not state the amount.
- Ordinance
- Lakewood Municipal Code Title 8, Chapter 8.06 (Trees and Vegetation), §§ 8.06.010 to 8.06.170. Current chapter derives from Ord. O-2019-24 § 4 and Ord. O-2019-25 § 1 (2019); code codified through Ordinance No. O-2025-11, adopted March 24, 2025.
Worth knowing
- The homeowner carve-out is explicit. § 8.06.110(A)(1): "No person, other than an individual on his or her own property, shall engage in any tree maintenance, or shrub maintenance or removal, within the City of Lakewood without a license."
- But hiring someone always triggers the license. § 8.06.110(A)(2): "No person shall engage in any tree removal under a contractual arrangement within the City of Lakewood without a license." Ask to see the license before you hire.
- The city's operative tree authority runs to public land, not your yard. § 8.06.020: "The parks manager is authorized to trim, spray, remove, plant and protect vegetation and to trim, spray and remove weeds upon the public way."
- Chapter 8.06 contains no permit or approval requirement of any kind for removing a tree on private property, and sets no diameter threshold for private trees. Its duties on private owners run the other way — the city can order you to remove or treat a tree, not stop you from doing so.
- § 8.06.070 lets the parks manager inspect vegetation on any property, public or private, for disease, insect infestation or structural deficiency, and order corrective action within 30 days of written notice.
- § 8.06.080 requires eight feet of clearance over sidewalks and walkways and 16 feet over public streets and alleys, and lets the parks manager order removal or trimming of private vegetation that encroaches on the public way.
- A licensed tree contractor must carry $1,000,000 per occurrence commercial general liability, $500,000 combined single limit auto, and Colorado workers' compensation (§ 8.06.120), must follow ANSI standards (§ 8.06.140), and must display its name and phone in letters at least three inches high on both sides of its vehicles (§ 8.06.160).
- Holders of a current reciprocal license from another Denver metro municipality still must obtain a Lakewood license and pay the fee, but are not retested (§ 8.06.110(A)(3)).
- Your HOA or a metro district may impose its own tree rules, which the city does not administer.
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 Lakewood's Zoning Ordinance (Title 17, published separately from the Municipal Code and not carried on Municode) imposes landscaping or tree preservation duties on a property with an approved site plan on file. Chapter 8.06 is clear; the zoning ordinance was not readable.
- — The dollar amount of the annual tree contractor license fee, and penalty amounts.
- — The three-inch natural-areas threshold above comes from the city's Forestry pages, which now block automated reads; it is not stated in Chapter 8.06.