Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Memphis and Shelby County share one tree ordinance, and the first exemption in it is the homeowner exemption. Chapter 6.1 of the Unified Development Code applies to all tree removal in the city and the unincorporated county "except in the following cases, which do not require a notice of intent, a tree survey, or a tree permit: 1. Where the tree removal is on a residential lot or parcel containing an existing dwelling, used for that purpose, and which is ten acres or less in size." That is a categorical exemption — no permit, no survey, no size limit, no tree count. Do not go looking in the Memphis City Code for this; its tree chapter covers city property only. The permit becomes real on vacant land, on land being cleared for development, and on parcels over ten acres.
Size threshold
None on an exempt residential lot. Where the ordinance does bite, it only counts "existing" trees: "TREE, EXISTING: A tree having a ten-inch DBH which is not located in the existing or proposed public right-of-way, does not interfere with required slope stabilization treatments or required right-of-way sight distance, and is not in a public utility easement." Trees that are dead or dying, diseased and likely to die, damaged, an immediate threat to public safety, or on the Zoning Administrator's "undesirable" list are excluded from that definition entirely.
What's protected in Memphis
- Existing trees on non-exempt land — 10-inch DBH or larger, outside the right-of-way and outside a public utility easement.
- Streamside Management Zones — "Areas encompassing perennial and intermittent streams and the 60-foot wide buffer on either side of the top of the stream banks... SMZs are also those areas encompassing ephemeral streams and the 30-foot wide buffer on either side." The code adds: "No tree removal is permitted in any SMZ under the notice of intent waiver process."
- The perimeter of a development site, where the tree removal matrix allows 0 percent removal, with narrow exceptions for two access points no wider than 30 feet and one stream crossing no wider than 20 feet every 200 feet.
- Street trees in the right-of-way — "If a party destroys or substantially damages a street tree inside the ROW that is required under this code, it shall replace it with a specimen of at least 2 inches dbh. This includes work performed by the City, County and utility companies," with "substantially damages" meaning the tree "dies within one year of the date of damage."
- Public trees and park trees under the Memphis City Code — "Park trees are hereby defined as trees in city parks or city park-like areas to which the public has free access as a park. Public trees are hereby defined as trees located on city property." Neither reaches your yard.
How to apply in Memphis
- 1
These steps apply only to non-exempt land. A house on ten acres or less needs none of it.
- 2
Check the nine exemptions in UDC 6.1.2A first. If your lot has a dwelling on it and is ten acres or less, you are done.
- 3
File a Notice of Intent with the Zoning Administrator. "No more than 45 and no less than ten working days before the removal of any existing tree a notice of intent must be filed."
- 4
Submit four collated sets of the application, including the tree plan reduced to 8.5 by 11 inches and a print of the tree plan at 20 by 24 inches minimum.
- 5
Submit a tree survey unless it is waived. It must be prepared by a Tennessee-licensed civil engineer or landscape architect, or a certified arborist.
- 6
Pick a track: conform to the tree removal matrix; use the Equivalent Alternative Method, which waives both the survey and the permit but records a landscaping plate against the property in perpetuity with the County Register; petition for a waiver; or file a development plan.
- 7
Flag the site before cutting. "The non-disturb areas of the site shall be clearly marked by flags, fencing and/or tree paint... at a frequency of at least every 50 feet."
- 8
Decisions come within ten working days. Appeals go to the Memphis City Council for city sites, or the Board of County Commissioners for county sites, "within ten days after the date of the notice of denial." A permit expires if work is not commenced within 24 months.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Nothing on an exempt residential lot. On non-exempt land the adopted Land Use Controls fee schedule lists: Notice of Intent $75; Tree Survey Review, permit required, $150 plus $20 per acre, maximum $2,000; Tree Survey Review, no permit required, $150; Tree Survey Waiver $100; Equivalent Alternative Review $150 plus $20 per acre, maximum $2,000; Tree Bank Contribution $2,000 per acre. Note that the Notice of Intent form still in circulation prints an older and lower schedule ($50 Notice of Intent, $100 survey review). Both are published by the city and are reported here rather than reconciled.
- Penalties
- UDC 11.4.2: "The Zoning Administrator is authorized to issue a stop work order to any person who violates any provision of Chapter 6.1, Tree Removal... Violation of Chapter 6.1, shall be the basis of withholding a final inspection permit and certificate of occupancy until such violation is corrected... Violation of this Chapter may also be the basis for injunctive relief, with such actions being brought and enforced through the Environmental Court." Mitigation bites harder than the fine: "Mitigation of any disturbed area for which no permit was obtained shall be required. Perimeter areas shall be reforested with a minimum of two times the estimated caliper inches of the trees removed," and a tree removed beyond the matrix "shall be replaced with four live trees having no less than a 2 1/2-inch caliper each." The base fine under UDC 11.1 is "not more than $50.00," with "Each day's continuance of a violation... considered a separate offense."
- Ordinance
- Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code, Article 6 (Open Space and Natural Resource Protection), Chapter 6.1 — Tree Removal; definitions at 12.3.2; enforcement at 11.1 and 11.4.2. Originally "Approved as ZTA 09-1 by the Land Use Control Board on June 10, 2010, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners as Ordinance No. 397 on August 9, 2010, and the Memphis City Council as Ordinance No. 5367 on August 10, 2010." The current published text carries the footer ZTA 24-2, adopted by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners as Ordinance No. 562 on August 26, 2024 and by the Memphis City Council on August 20, 2024. Separately, Memphis City Code Title 12, Chapter 12-70 (Public Trees), Sections 12-70-1 through 12-70-11, all "(Ord. No. 5494, 3-5-2013)," code current through Ordinance No. 5965, enacted December 16, 2025 (Supp. No. 32).
Worth knowing
- Memphis says outright that its weed and nuisance code does not force you to cut trees. City Code 9-96-1: "Weeds, grass and noxious growth shall not be interpreted to require the property owner to dispose of, or cut down growing trees, shrubs, or crops on his or her property."
- Sidewalk clearance is a misdemeanor, though. City Code 12-24-12: "All trees upon or near sidewalks or walkways shall be so trimmed that the lower branches thereof are not less than eight feet above the sidewalks."
- The tree out front is probably not covered by "your tree." The UDC's definition of an existing tree carves out anything "located in the existing or proposed public right-of-way" or "in a public utility easement," and City Code 12-70-3 reserves to the city "the right to plant, prune, maintain and remove trees, plants and shrubs on public property."
- There is no separate emergency or storm process, and none is needed: dead, dying, diseased, damaged and hazardous trees are excluded from the definition of an existing tree and therefore fall outside Chapter 6.1 completely.
- Memphis licenses tree contractors only for work on public land. City Code 12-70-6 requires a surety bond, insurance of "not less than $50,000.00 property damage, $100,000.00 for bodily injury or death, and aggregate limits of $500,000.00 for each incident," and "at least one certified arborist employed by each company operating within the city" — but as a condition of working on city trees. No Memphis ordinance licenses tree services for private-property work.
- Check your deed before assuming you are exempt. If a prior owner used the Equivalent Alternative Method, the recorded landscaping plate "shall run with the land."
- The UDC is being rewritten. The Division of Planning and Development points to a UDC Update running through 2025 and 2026, so Chapter 6.1 may change.
- The Memphis Tree Board is advisory only. It has seven members, three of whom must be "a certified professional arborist, horticulturalist, or forester," and it advises the director of park services and neighborhoods. It issues no permits.
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.
- — The current fee schedule. The adopted schedule dates to 2012 as amended in 2014, and the Notice of Intent form still in circulation dates to 2013 and prints different, lower amounts. Both are on city sites.
- — Which tree removal matrix is applied in practice. The current UDC allows 0 percent removal in a site perimeter; the published application form still shows an older 18 percent figure. The form was not updated when the code changed.
- — Whether the phone numbers printed on the Notice of Intent form — (901) 576-6619 and (901) 222-8387 — still ring. The Division of Planning and Development now publishes (901) 636-6619.
- — Whether a heritage tree program actually exists. UDC 6.1.3B only authorizes one to "be developed" by Parks, the Shelby County Conservation Board, City Beautiful, or the Office of Sustainability and Resilience, and the phrase "heritage tree" returns no hits in the Memphis Code.
- — Whether removing a tree in a Memphis local historic district requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. The Landmarks Commission's published scope covers new construction, demolition, relocation and exterior alterations, and does not name trees either way.
- — Whether the Accela citizen portal accepts a tree removal application electronically. The Division links "Apply for a Landscape and Tree Removal Permit online here," but the link resolves to the static PDF form.
- — The exact right-of-way width on any given Memphis street, which determines whether the tree out front is yours. Check the Shelby County Zoning Atlas or call the Division.
- — Whether Chapter 6.1 has been amended by any zoning text amendment after ZTA 24-2.
Sources
- Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code (Chapter 6.1, Tree Removal) — PDF
- Shelby County / Memphis — Notice of Intent, Application for Tree Removal (PDF)
- Shelby County — Land Use Controls Revised Fee Schedule (PDF)
- Division of Planning and Development — Land Use and Development Services
- Division of Planning and Development — Unified Development Code
- Division of Planning and Development — Department Directory
- Memphis City Code Chapter 12-70 — Public Trees (Municode)
- City of Memphis — Public Works Division