Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Nashville is the strictest city in Tennessee and the code text is blunt: "no person shall remove or in any way damage any retained, protected or heritage tree without first obtaining a permit from the zoning administrator." A "protected tree" is any tree six inches DBH or larger — a low bar that catches most back-yard trees. What Metro does not do is publish a homeowner tree-removal application or any page telling a homeowner the rule applies to them; every piece of published guidance is aimed at construction. Call the Urban Forester at 615-862-6886 before cutting anything six inches or larger.
Size threshold
"Designation of Protected Trees. A protected tree is any existing tree with at least a six-inch diameter at breast height (DBH); or any existing tree two inches in DBH or larger located in the public right-of-way." Heritage trees are set by a species table: deciduous canopy 24 inches, evergreen tall 10 inches, deciduous understory 8 inches, evergreen low 8 inches.
What's protected in Nashville
- Protected trees — any existing tree of at least 6 inches DBH, or 2 inches DBH in the public right-of-way. To qualify the tree "shall not be listed on the most recent edition of the Tennessee Invasive Exotic Plant List and shall be in fair or better condition with no major insect or pathological problems."
- Heritage trees — any tree meeting the species DBH table (canopy 24", evergreen tall 10", understory 8", evergreen low 8"), or registered in the Metro historic or specimen tree program, or listed on the Tennessee Champion Tree list or the Tennessee Landmark and Historic Tree Registry. A heritage tree must also have a life expectancy over fifteen years and a structurally sound trunk.
- Historic and specimen trees — a voluntary program requiring "consent of the property owner." Once designated, "No historic or specimen tree shall be removed without a finding by the Metropolitan Beautification and Environment Commission that the tree is a hazard or a determination that it is not economically or practically feasible to develop the parcel without removing the tree."
- Retained trees — trees counted toward a property's required tree density. "Any retained tree that is removed without a tree removal permit shall be replaced on an inch for inch basis," and a replacement tree planted for credit may never "be removed by the owner or developer without the prior permission of the urban forester."
- Public trees — any tree on Metro property, streets, alleys, rights-of-way, parks, public buildings, hospitals and schools. Separate permit from the urban forester under Metro Code 2.104.060.
How to apply in Nashville
- 1
Measure the trunk at 4.5 feet above the ground. At six inches or more, the code treats it as a protected tree.
- 2
Call the Urban Forester at 615-862-6886 first. Metro publishes no standalone homeowner tree-removal form, and the code routes applications through the zoning administrator "upon forms provided by the zoning administrator."
- 3
Expect to justify the removal against the code's eight review criteria. There is no "I want more sun" ground. The ones a homeowner can actually use are: the tree is "located in such proximity to an existing structure that the safety, utility or structural integrity of the structure is materially impaired"; it "materially interferes with the installation, servicing or functioning of existing or infrastructure, utility lines or services"; it "creates a substantial hazard to motor, bicycle or pedestrian traffic"; it is "diseased, insect ridden or weakened by age, abuse, storm or fire and is likely to cause injury or damage"; or the site "will maintain the required tree density after the removal."
- 4
The application must include a tree survey showing "the location, size and type of retained, protected and heritage trees upon the site, including common or scientific names," and a plan for disposal of the tree.
- 5
Filing the application "shall be deemed to extend permission to the urban forester to inspect the subject site."
- 6
A permit expires if work is not commenced within six months. Notice of commencement and completion must be made "by signed affidavit to the urban forester."
- 7
Appeals of an urban forester determination go to the Metro Board of Zoning Appeals.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Metro Code 2.104.060.D sets "a fee of ten dollars to cover the costs of administration, including the review of permits and inspection to be charged to applicants for tree permits established by this chapter" — that is the urban forester's public-tree permit. No dollar fee is published for the zoning tree removal permit under 17.40.470; Title 17's application-fee article (Article XVI) contains no tree line item.
- Penalties
- Title 17 carries the heaviest civil penalty in the state. Section 17.40.610: "Any violation of this title shall be a misdemeanor offense punishable by law. Each day of a violation shall constitute a separate offense." Section 17.40.620: "Any violation of this title shall be assessed as a civil penalty at the rate of five hundred dollars per day." On top of that, tree-protection-zone violations carry their own civil penalty "assessed at fifty dollars per violation, per day. Each tree, in which a violation occurred, shall be considered an individual violation," and any tree removed without a permit "shall be replaced on an inch for inch basis."
- Ordinance
- Metropolitan Code of Laws Title 17 (Zoning), Chapter 17.40, Article X — Tree Protection and Replacement Procedures (17.40.440 through 17.40.480); Section 17.28.065 (Trees), which defines protected and heritage trees; Chapter 17.24 (Landscaping, Buffering and Tree Requirements); and Title 2, Chapter 2.104 (Urban Forester). Section 17.28.065 was amended by Ordinance BL2024-687, "An ordinance to amend Title 17 ... to amend Chapters 17.04 and 17.28.065, Pertaining to Trees," passed March 4, 2025. Article X was last amended by Ord. BL2022-1122, passed May 17, 2022. Code current through Ordinance No. BL2025-1141, approved December 17, 2025 (Supp. No. 53).
Worth knowing
- Your tree company needs a Metro permit. Section 2.104.070: "All individuals and firms conducting tree care and removal as a business shall be required to have a permit," conditioned on passing an International Society of Arboriculture test and carrying "a minimum of three hundred thousand dollars of liability insurance." The fee is twenty-five dollars per year. Ask to see it.
- Metro can make you remove a tree. If the urban forester finds a private hazard tree, he "shall serve notice of the risk and the need for removal, and allow thirty days for removal of the tree at the expense of the property owner," and if you do not, Metro removes it and bills you.
- There is an old provision pointing the other way that Metro has never repealed. Section 13.32.210, carried over from the prior code, bars destroying trees in the urban services district but says nothing "shall be so construed... to prevent any proprietor of a lot from cutting down any tree on or in front of his lot." It sits in the streets title, not the zoning title, and Metro does not reconcile the two.
- If a removal is approved and there is nowhere on site to plant the replacements, Metro runs a tree bank: the applicant "may contribute to the tree bank an amount of money equal to the costs of providing the required density," and the fund is spent "for the planting and maintaining of public trees."
- New single-family and two-family lots carry a planting requirement, not a removal ban: "at least one two-inch caliper tree for each thirty feet of lot frontage," doubled on a cul-de-sac, proven "prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy."
- The March 2025 rewrite matters. Ordinance BL2024-687 rewrote 17.28.065 outright, so anything written about Nashville tree rules before spring 2025 should be checked against the current text.
- During a declared emergency the rules can be relaxed. Section 17.24.050.D: "In the event of emergencies, which may include but are not limited to snow, ice and rain storms, tornadoes, floods, and similar natural disasters which cause excessive tree damage throughout the community, the mayor may invoke additional exceptions as necessary to deal with the emergency."
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 decisive question: whether Metro actually enforces the 17.40.440 permit requirement against a homeowner removing a six-inch tree on an established lot with no construction underway. The code text says a permit is required and lists only two exemptions (commercial nurseries and licensed surveyors cutting a swath three feet or less). But Section 17.28.020.F.4 exempts "the construction of a single-family or two-family dwelling unit on a platted lot existing at the time of the enactment," the review criteria in 17.40.470.B are written around development approvals, and Metro's Urban Forestry page describes landscape plan review only "In developments other than single-family or duplex residential properties." Both readings are reported here rather than reconciled. Call 615-862-6886.
- — The dollar fee for a zoning tree removal permit under 17.40.470. The $10 in 2.104.060.D is scoped to Chapter 2.104 public-tree permits.
- — Any homeowner application form or online portal. Metro's Building Permits Central page lists no tree permit type, and the only tree pages published are the Tree and Shrub List, Tree Protection During Construction, and an urban forestry worksheet — all construction-facing.
- — Review turnaround time. Metro publishes none.
- — The tree bank contribution schedule, which the code delegates to "a schedule promulgated by the urban forester and approved by resolution of the council" rather than fixing an amount.
- — Whether any Metro historic zoning overlay reviews tree removal on private parcels.
Sources
- Metro Nashville — Urban Forestry, Codes and Building Safety
- Metro Nashville — Tree Protection During Construction
- Metro Code 17.40 Art. X — Tree Protection and Replacement Procedures (Municode)
- Metro Code 17.28.065 — Trees (Municode)
- Metro Code Chapter 2.104 — Urban Forester (Municode)
- Metro Code Chapter 17.24 — Landscaping, Buffering and Tree Requirements (Municode)
- Metro Council — Ordinance BL2024-687, amending 17.04 and 17.28.065 pertaining to trees