Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Lawton has no tree chapter and no tree permit. The word permit never attaches to a tree anywhere in the code: Chapter 20 (Streets and Sidewalks), Chapter 15 (Nuisances and Health), Chapter 18 (Planning and Zoning) and Chapter 21 (Subdivisions) were all read and none creates one. What Lawton has instead is a set of duties. Section 20-1-103.A expressly allows abutting owners to "grow trees on the parkway of the sidewalk," so long as they keep the limbs pruned eight feet clear, and Chapter 15 turns overhanging limbs, sight-triangle obstructions and bagworms into nuisances the City can abate.
Size threshold
None. Lawton's code sets no diameter, DBH or caliper threshold for tree removal anywhere. The only tree-related measurements are clearance heights: limbs must be pruned "at least eight (8) feet above the sidewalk" under Section 20-1-103.A, and Chapter 15 defines a "Low hanging limb" as one "situated eight (8) feet or less above any sidewalk or fourteen (14) feet or less above any street, alley," measured "from a point on the low tree limb closest to the ground perpendicular to" the surface below.
What's protected in Lawton
- None by species, size or designation. Lawton's landscaping requirement is zoning-district based and does not reach ordinary houses: Section 18-4-1-415.A requires landscaping "within R-3 (Multiple-Family Dwelling District), R-4 (High Density Apartment District), P-O (Professional Office District), P-F (Public Facilities District), C-1... C-5, CBD (Central Business District), and along with the construction or expansion of new private schools and churches in any zoning district except industrial districts." R-1 (Single-Family Dwelling District) and R-2 (Two-Family Dwelling District) are not on the list.
- A tree buffer is required only where commercial or office zoning abuts single-family or two-family zoning or use, under Section 18-4-1-415.B, which pairs "an opaque ornamental fence or wall not less than six (6) feet nor more than eight (8) feet high and a tree buffer."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Lawton Code of Ordinances Chapter 20 (Streets and Sidewalks), Section 20-1-103; Chapter 15 (Nuisances and Health); and Chapter 18 (Planning and Zoning), Section 18-4-1-415, added by Ord. 2006-12 on June 9, 2006. There is no chapter, article or division of the Lawton code titled Trees. Code codified through Ordinance No. 2026-10, adopted April 28, 2026 (Supp. No. 2, Update 1).
Worth knowing
- Lawton's code assigns tree-related enforcement to the "code official" rather than to a forester. Chapter 15 (Nuisances and Health) enforcement, covering dead limbs, low hanging limbs, sight obstructions and bagworms, runs through the code official and the City's nuisance abatement process, while landscaping requirements in Chapter 18 are administered through Planning and Zoning. No City Forester, Tree Board or urban forestry office appears anywhere in the Lawton Code of Ordinances.
- Section 20-1-103.A is the closest thing Lawton has to a street tree rule, and it is permissive: "Owners, occupants and users of real property abutting upon streets in the city may grow trees on the parkway of the sidewalk, so long as the limbs and branches of the trees are kept pruned off the body at least eight (8) feet above the sidewalk and their spread an equal distance above the sidewalk."
- The same subsection makes you liable. Section 20-1-103.B: "The owner, occupant and user of the property abutting upon any defective sidewalk shall be primarily liable for any injury or damage inflicted upon any person as a result of a violation of subsection A."
- Chapter 15 declares as nuisances: "All trees, hedges, signs or other obstructions which prevent persons driving vehicles on public streets, alleys or highways from obtaining a clear view of traffic"; "All limbs of trees which project over a public sidewalk, less than eight (8)" feet above it; and "Permitting bagworms to be upon any trees or other plants within the city."
- One Lawton nuisance is unusual and worth knowing before you decide not to prune: "Tree limbs, branches and/or any other materials emanating from a tree or shrub and extending beyond the limits of the property on which they grow or otherwise originate, such that they overhang or are within twelve (12) inches of a building structure on the adjacent property."
- Excavating near a tree is a different matter. Section 20-1-101 contemplates that reconstructing a drainage facility "also includes the removal of fences, trees, shrubs" and addresses damages to them, and Article 20-2 requires a permit for paving cuts and excavations within street right-of-way - so digging near a parkway tree can require a permit even though cutting the tree does not.
- Lawton licenses no tree services. No arborist, tree service or tree trimmer license appears in Chapter 7 (Business).
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 direct phone number, email and street address for whichever Lawton office answers tree questions. lawtonok.gov is behind a Cloudflare challenge that blocked every automated fetch attempted for this entry, including through a text proxy.
- — The specific landscaping standards themselves. Section 18-4-1-415 repeatedly cross-references "Section 6-1-5-186 of this code" for the actual requirements, and that section, in Chapter 6 (Buildings, Construction and Housing), was not read for this entry.
- — Whether the Downtown Lawton Overlay District (Article 18-12) or the Historical Preservation Overlay District (Article 18-10) impose tree rules. Section 18-4-1-415.A says downtown areas "shall adhere to the requirement specifically listed therein," and those articles were not read in full.
- — Whether Lawton has a tree program, forester or Tree City USA designation operating outside the code. The code creates none.
- — Chapter 6 (Buildings, Construction and Housing) and Chapter 19A (Stormwater and Floodplain Management) were not read for this entry; a land-disturbance or floodplain permit could reach tree clearing there.