Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Livonia rewrote its tree and shrub ordinance in September 2023 and scoped it to public land. The permit clause, Section 12.24.055, reads "No person shall plant, remove, prune, injure, or otherwise affect any tree or shrub in or on any public place without first having obtained a permit," and "public land" is defined as "any public street, public highway, public park, or any other property owned or held by the City of Livonia." The ordinance's stated goal for private property is encouragement, not regulation: it exists in part to "Encourage residents to plant and maintain trees on private property." The thing to check before you call anyone is the contractor rule. Section 12.24.090 makes it unlawful to engage in the business of removing or trimming trees anywhere in Livonia without an annual city license.
Size threshold
None applies to a private tree. The only diameter figure in the chapter is a fee waiver for right-of-way work, at Section 12.24.070(B): "no fee, cash deposit or insurance shall be required in those cases where a resident of the city applies for a permit to plant a tree or remove a tree (six (6) inches or less in diameter) at his or her own expense in the public right-of-way between the sidewalk and curb in front of such existing residence."
What's protected in Livonia
- Any tree or shrub in or on public land. Section 12.24.020(C) defines public land as "any public street, public highway, public park, or any other property owned or held by the City of Livonia."
- The strip between your sidewalk and the curb, which the city describes as right-of-way and treats as a city tree. The Forestry page says "City ordinance requires permits for tree-related work on City trees in the Right-of-Way (normally between the sidewalk and curb) unless City crews or contractors working for the City of Livonia perform the work."
- Trees and shrubs on private property that create a traffic hazard or a menace to public health, safety and welfare, under Section 12.24.130. That is an abatement duty, not a removal permit.
- There is no protected species list, no heritage or landmark tree program, and no woodland ordinance anywhere in the Livonia code.
How to apply in Livonia
- 1
These steps are for a right-of-way or public tree. A tree in your own yard needs nothing.
- 2
Call Public Service at 734-466-2655, or submit a service request through the city website. Permits can be obtained the same way tree trims are requested.
- 3
Section 12.24.060 requires a written application signed by the applicant giving your name, description, residence and place of business; the name and location of the public place and a description of the area affected; and the nature and extent of the proposed operation.
- 4
Pay 30 dollars if a contractor is applying. A resident planting a tree, or removing one of six inches or less in the right-of-way in front of their own home, pays nothing.
- 5
Section 12.24.055(B) requires the permit holder to "review and comply with the recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture Tree Owner's Manual," available at the Clerk's Office, on the Forestry page, or at treeownersmanual.info.
- 6
Anything planted in a public place must come off the city's approved tree species list.
- 7
A permit is "not official until signed by City of Livonia forestry staff."
- 8
If a permit is refused or revoked you "shall have a right to a hearing before the council," under Section 12.24.100.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Section 12.24.070(A): "Every application shall be accompanied by a fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) and such cash deposit as may be required by the department." The Forestry page explains how that lands in practice: "Permits are free to residents, although if a contractor obtains it there is a $30 charge." Subsection B waives the fee, deposit and insurance entirely for a resident planting a tree or removing one of six inches or less in the right-of-way in front of their own home. The annual landscaping business license fee is set by Section 5.03.170, which lists "Trees, shrubs, lawns or other plants - business of landscape gardening, planting, trimming, repairing, removing, maintaining, selling or transporting" at 10 dollars.
- Penalties
- Sections 12.24.050 and 12.24.055 both say "Failure to obtain a permit shall constitute a misdemeanor." The general penalty at Section 1.12.010(A) then applies: "every person convicted of a misdemeanor for a violation of or failure to comply with any provision of this code or any regulation lawfully promulgated pursuant thereto shall, unless otherwise prescribed in this code, be punished by a) a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), b) imprisonment for a period of time not to exceed ninety (90) days, or, where allowed by law, ninety-three (93) days, c) any other costs permitted by law, or d) any combination of the foregoing, in the discretion of the court." For hazard trees on private property, Section 12.24.130 lets the city cut and recover "either by proceedings in the district court or by special assessment against the property."
- Ordinance
- Livonia Code of Ordinances Title 12 (Streets, Sidewalks, and Public Places), Chapter 12.24 — Trees and Shrubs, the "tree and shrub ordinance," Sections 12.24.010 through 12.24.160. Rewritten in full by Ordinance No. 3196, adopted September 6, 2023; every operative section now carries that ordinance in its history note. Related provisions: Section 12.04.430 (trees in public places), Section 9.58.010 (injury to trees), Section 16.12.070 (trees on land to be subdivided) and Section 16.24.290 (street trees and the Tree Fund). Code current through Ordinance No. 3240, enacted March 17, 2026 (Supp. No. 64). The Livonia Zoning Ordinance is a separate document, Ordinance 543 as amended, current through Ordinance No. 3203, adopted May 20, 2024 (Supp. No. 3).
Worth knowing
- Check that your tree company holds a Livonia license before it starts. Section 12.24.090: "No person shall engage in the business of landscape gardening, planting, trimming, repairing, removing, maintaining, selling or transporting trees, shrubs, lawns or other plants within the city without first obtaining from the department a license for each year authorizing such person to engage in such business." The application goes to the City Clerk, the business "shall be subject to inspection by the department at all times," and the fee under Section 5.03.170 is 10 dollars.
- You have ten days to deal with a hazard tree once the city writes. Section 12.24.130 bars maintaining "any tree or shrub which may cause a traffic hazard or obstruction or in any way constitute a menace to the health, safety, and welfare of the public," and on certification by the police and public works departments the inspection department gives "a written request... to remove the same within ten (10) days."
- The chapter's own purpose section draws the public and private line. Section 12.24.015 lists goals including to "Establish and maintain sustainable tree coverage on public land" and, separately, to "Encourage residents to plant and maintain trees on private property consistent with these goals."
- The landscaping requirements in the zoning ordinance do not reach an existing house. Article X, Section 10.01: "The requirements set forth in this Section shall apply to all uses, lots, site, and parcels for which Site Plan Review is required and which are developed or expanded following the effective date of this Ordinance."
- Livonia does run a Tree Fund, but it is a subdivision planting deposit rather than a fee in lieu of preserving trees. Section 16.24.290 requires the proprietor of a new plat to deposit "One dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) for each linear foot of property in the proposed subdivision which is abutting, adjacent to or extending along any existing or proposed street," to be spent "for purchasing, replacing, planting and maintaining trees within rights-of-way and island areas in the subdivision for a period of five (5) years."
- Livonia has been a Tree City USA community since 1998 and a Growth Award community since 2003. Neither designation restricts what you do with a tree in your own yard.
- Right-of-way trees are trimmed by the city on an eight to ten year cycle, and residents can request a maintenance trim, which Forestry staff inspect and assign to the city's tree trim contractor.
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.
- — No Livonia page states in plain words that a private tree needs no permit. The conclusion rests on the text of Chapter 12.24, which is scoped throughout to public land, and on the Forestry page describing permits only for city trees in the right-of-way.
- — Where the right-of-way line actually falls on any given Livonia street, which is what decides whether the tree out front is yours.
- — Whether the department has adopted the "Regulations" that Section 12.24.150 authorizes, which are supposed to "specify and control the kind, nature, and description of trees, shrubs and plants which may be grown, planted or maintained on or in any public place" and do not take effect until approved by council resolution. They were not located online.
- — Whether the 10 dollar landscaping business license fee in Section 5.03.170 is current, and how the license is enforced against out-of-town firms.
- — Whether the Tree City Committee has any role in permitting. It appears in the city's board listings but nowhere in Chapter 12.24.
- — Whether pulling a stump or clearing a large area triggers any separate grading or soil erosion permit. That was not researched.
Sources
- City of Livonia — Forestry
- City of Livonia — Public Works
- Livonia Code Ch. 12.24 — Trees and Shrubs (Municode)
- Livonia Code Sec. 12.24.055 — Permit required on public land (Municode)
- Livonia Code Sec. 12.24.090 — Landscaping business license (Municode)
- Livonia Code Sec. 1.12.010 — General penalty (Municode)
- Livonia Code Sec. 16.24.290 — Street trees and Tree Fund (Municode)
- Livonia Zoning Ordinance Art. X — Landscaping and Screening (Municode)