Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Midwest City has a whole chapter titled Trees and a seven-member Tree Board, and the permission requirement in it applies only inside the public right-of-way. Section 42-14(b): "Prior to the removal or relocation of any tree within public right-of-way, an application shall be made to the city manager or designee." There is no application, no threshold and no fee for a tree standing in your own yard. What the code does put on private owners is a duty to cut, not a duty to ask: Section 42-49 requires every property owner to "remove from the owner's property all dead, diseased or dangerous trees and shrubs, or broken or decayed limbs which constitute a menace to the safety of the public."
Size threshold
None for private trees. The right-of-way fee schedule at Section 42-14(c) is priced by diameter and uses an unusual measuring convention that is not standard DBH: "Three-inch diameter or smaller-Two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00)... More than three-inch diameter-Seventy-five dollars ($75.00) per inch. In calculating fees, inches shall be rounded off to the next whole inch. The diameter of the tree shall be measured from three (3) feet to four (4) feet from the base of the tree." Note that range - three to four feet - rather than the 4.5 feet that DBH normally means.
What's protected in Midwest City
- Any tree in the public right-of-way, which in Midwest City includes the treelawn in front of your house. Section 42-2 defines "Treelawn" as "that part of a street or highway, not covered by sidewalk or other paving, lying between the property line and that portion of the street or highway usually used for vehicular traffic," and defines "Property line" for this chapter as "the outer edge of a street or highway." Section 42-14(b) puts removal or relocation of a right-of-way tree in the city manager's hands: "The city manager or designee shall have the authority to grant or deny the removal or relocation of any street tree."
- Park trees and all other public trees. Section 42-3(a): "The tree board shall have the authority and jurisdiction of regulating the protection, maintenance, removal and planting of trees on streets, parks and public places." Section 42-33 makes it unlawful to interfere with board agents doing that work.
- Species you may not plant as a street tree, which restricts planting rather than removal. Section 42-6: "No American Elm, Siberian or Chinese Elm, Mimosa, Female Cottonwood or Peach tree will be allowed for planting." Section 42-5 lists the approved small, medium and large street tree species.
How to apply in Midwest City
- 1
These steps are for a right-of-way tree. Section 42-14(b): make application to the city manager or designee as prescribed in Sections 42-12 and 42-13.
- 2
Submit a site plan "showing the exact location, diameter and species of the tree(s) to be removed from the public right-of-way."
- 3
Section 42-13: put the request in writing to the Midwest City mayor and get it in "at least fourteen (14) days in advance of the next regularly scheduled meeting." The city manager's representative prepares a staff report and puts the item on the agenda, and you are notified in writing of the time and place.
- 4
The Tree Board hears the request in an open meeting where "all interested parties shall be given the opportunity to be heard" (Section 42-31) and forwards a recommendation. Section 42-36: "No action of the city tree board shall become final until approved by the city council."
- 5
Pay the Section 42-14(c) fee, or take the relocation option and give the city a written three-year survival guarantee instead.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Only for right-of-way trees. Section 42-14(c): "Three-inch diameter or smaller-Two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00). More than three-inch diameter-Seventy-five dollars ($75.00) per inch." Fees "shall be deposited to the tree board account." If the city manager instead lets you relocate the tree to the adjoining right-of-way through a professional landscaper, Section 42-14(b) says that is done "at no fee cost to the applicant," provided you guarantee in writing to replace the tree if it dies within three years.
- Penalties
- Chapter 42 sets no fine of its own. Its enforcement lever is abatement and a lien. Section 42-49 lets the city trim or remove a non-complying tree "and charge the cost of trimming or removal to the owner." Section 42-51 requires ten days' written notice stating "that the costs of such abatement shall be assessed against the owner as shown on county treasurer's tax rolls; and that a lien may be imposed on the property to secure such payment." Section 42-53 adds "the city's administrative expenses as allowed under section 27-13," and Section 42-54 sends anything unpaid after 30 days to the Oklahoma County Treasurer "to be levied upon the property."
- Ordinance
- Midwest City Code Chapter 42 (Trees), Sections 42-1 through 42-54, derived from the Code of 1972, Chapter 35 1/2. The right-of-way sections were substantially rewritten by Ord. No. 3388, Section 1, adopted September 10, 2019, which retitled Section 42-14 and repealed the old hearing and order-to-trim sections. The Tree Board was overhauled by Ord. No. 3594, adopted May 27, 2025, which added the Tree City USA mission at Section 42-29, the general powers at Section 42-30 and the city liaison at Section 42-38, and set a sunset: Section 42-39, "The city tree board shall continue until January 1, 2029." The removal and relocation fees at Section 42-14(c) date to Ord. No. 2390, adopted February 13, 1990, as amended by Ord. No. 3388. State law reference given in the code itself: 11 O.S. Section 22-122 (authority of city to regulate trees). Code codified through Ordinance No. 3615, enacted November 13, 2025 (Supp. No. 21).
Worth knowing
- The real private-property rule in Midwest City is a duty to remove, not a permit. Section 42-49: "Every property owner shall remove from the owner's property all dead, diseased or dangerous trees and shrubs, or broken or decayed limbs which constitute a menace to the safety of the public." The same section requires 14 feet of clearance over a street or right-of-way and eight feet over the full width of a sidewalk or trail.
- Dead or diseased trees on the right-of-way abutting your lot are your bill. Section 42-50 lets the city notify the abutting owner and says "Removal shall be done by said owners at their own expense within thirty (30) days after the date of service or notice," with city removal and cost recovery if you do not act.
- Section 42-14(a) covers the other direction too: before planting anything in the right-of-way you must submit a site plan showing location and species, and comply with the spacing rules - 20 feet apart for small trees, 30 for medium, 40 for large (Section 42-7), at least six feet from any curb or sidewalk (Section 42-8), ten feet from a fireplug (Section 42-9), and, for anything larger than the small-tree list, ten lateral feet from overhead utility wires and five from underground lines (Section 42-10).
- The Tree Board has a sunset date. Ord. No. 3594, adopted May 27, 2025, added Section 42-39: "The city tree board shall continue until January 1, 2029. The city tree board may be reviewed, and the city council may determine to continue the city tree board beyond January 1, 2029." The same ordinance tied the board's stated mission to keeping Midwest City's Tree City USA designation and pursuing a Growth Award.
- Chapter 42 licenses nobody. There is no tree service, arborist or tree trimmer license anywhere in it, and the chapter cross-references only Section 1-2 (definitions) and Section 28-4 (shrubs around fire hydrants).
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 dedicated phone number for the Streets Division. The City directory lists Streets under Public Works without a separate line, so the Public Works number is given above.
- — Whether the city manager may act on a right-of-way removal without a Tree Board hearing. Section 42-14(b) says the application is "made to the city manager or designee board as prescribed in sections 42-12 and 42-13" - the phrase "or designee board" is in the code as printed - and Section 42-31 says the board "shall hear all requests for waivers as outlined in sections 42-12 and 42-13." The two readings are recorded here rather than reconciled.
- — The application form. Sections 42-13 and 42-14 describe a written request and a site plan but no published form was found.
- — Whether Midwest City zoning (Appendix A) imposes tree preservation or landscaping duties on a single-family lot. Appendix A was not read for this entry.
- — Whether an ordinary private tree truly needs nothing. Chapter 42 simply does not reach it. That is silence about private trees, not written permission.