Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Mesa has no tree ordinance and no tree removal permit. A full-text search of the adopted City Code returns no provision requiring a permit, approval or notice before a private owner removes a tree on their own lot, at any trunk size, and tree work does not appear on the city's own list of work that needs a construction permit. Two things still bind you: if the tree was on a landscape plan the city approved, section 11-33-2(H)(2) makes you replace it with a similar species and size, and work in the right-of-way strip needs a Right-of-Way Permit under section 9-1-2.
What's protected in Mesa
- Plants specified on an approved landscape plan. Section 11-33-2(H)(2): "In the event a plant specified as required on an approved landscape plan dies or is removed, the property owner and or occupant or lessee are jointly responsible and shall replace the plant with one of a similar species with a similar size as specified in the approved landscape plan."
- Trees in the public right-of-way, which need a Right-of-Way Permit under section 9-1-2 covering landscaping work and any activity that disturbs or obstructs the right-of-way.
- Recorded Natural Area Open Space easements inside the Desert Uplands Area of northeast Mesa. Section 9-6-9 provides that NAOS "shall be identified on the subdivision plat and restricted as necessary to preclude future development," and that in Undisturbed NAOS "concentrations of native vegetation shall be maintained in their natural state." Check your plat and title.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No fee, because no tree permit exists. A Right-of-Way Permit for right-of-way work carries fees set in the Development Services Schedule of Fees and Charges.
- Penalties
- Zoning Ordinance violations, section 11-79-4: "civil sanction of not less than $150 or more than $1,500, per citation. A second finding of responsibility within 24 months ... not less than $250 or more than $2,500. A third finding of responsibility within 36 months ... not less than $500 or more than $2,500." Each day is a separate offense. Nuisance and property-maintenance violations, section 8-6-9: not less than $250 or more than $1,500 for a first finding, rising to $350 to $2,500 and then $500 to $2,500 for repeats.
- Ordinance
- Mesa City Code Title 11 (Zoning Ordinance), Article 4, Chapter 33 — Landscaping, sections 11-33-1 and 11-33-2, amended by Ord. No. 5544, December 9, 2019, Ord. No. 5814, October 16, 2023 and Ord. No. 5996, section 4, March 9, 2026. Right-of-way permits at section 9-1-2. Desert Uplands standards at section 9-6-6, amended by Ord. No. 5949, section 1B, July 1, 2025. Code codified through Ordinance No. 5996, adopted March 9, 2026 (Supplement No. 22).
Worth knowing
- Mesa's landscape chapter is a planting rule, not a removal rule. Its operative sections are written for "Landscaping for Non-Single Residence Uses adjacent to Single Residence Uses or Districts," and the whole chapter is triggered by "new development, redevelopment, and site improvements requiring a development plan, site plan, or building permit."
- A dead tree is itself a violation. Section 8-6-3(E) bars an owner from allowing plant material to remain "that is dead, diseased, dying or so dry as to be readily flammable or combustible that may constitute a fire hazard."
- Section 8-6-3(W)(1) applies a blight standard to improved landscaped yards visible from the right-of-way, so an entirely stripped front yard can draw a citation even though the removal itself needed no permit.
- Clearance duty: section 8-6-3(D) requires vegetation to be "trimmed a minimum of 8 feet over the sidewalk and 14 feet over the street or alley."
- Mesa bans selling or planting male mulberry (Morus alba) and olive (Olea europaea) other than non-pollinating varieties (section 8-6-3(R)). That is a planting rule.
- Mesa's historic district chapter (Title 11 Chapter 74) contains no tree, landscape or vegetation provision, so a historic designation does not add tree rules here.
- Section 9-6-6 repeats the state rule as a reminder to developers: "The Arizona Department of Agriculture Plants Services Division has formulated a policy concerning protected native plants. A permit is required for the removal and transportation of protected native plants." Read that alongside A.R.S. 3-904(H), which exempts built residential lots of ten acres or less.
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 page on mesaaz.gov states in plain language that tree removal needs no permit. This entry is an exhaustive-absence finding: zero code provisions requiring one, plus the absence of tree work from the city's published permit-required list.
- — Whether Mesa in practice requires a Right-of-Way Permit for a homeowner removing a tree in the right-of-way strip. Section 9-1-2 plainly covers landscaping work there and Mesa has no homeowner exemption comparable to Chandler's, but no published guidance addresses homeowner tree work. Call 480-644-2160.
- — Dollar amounts in the Development Services Schedule of Fees and Charges. Mesaaz.gov blocks automated PDF downloads.
- — Whether any given Mesa parcel carries a recorded NAOS easement or a platted landscape condition. That is parcel-specific and has to come from your plat, title or a call.
Sources
- Mesa City Code section 11-33-2 — landscaping general requirements and the replacement duty
- Mesa City Code section 9-1-2 — right-of-way permits
- Mesa City Code section 9-6-6 — Desert Uplands development standards
- Mesa City Code section 8-6-3 — public nuisances prohibited
- City of Mesa — Development Services Department
- City of Mesa — Landscape and Storm Drain Maintenance (right-of-way trees)
- A.R.S. 3-904 — Arizona Native Plant Law, private landowner notice and the 10-acre exemption