Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Plymouth's tree preservation rules sit in the subdivision chapter and are scoped to development, not to homeowners. Section 530.03 applies them to properties involving a preliminary plat application, or a lot division creating one or more new development parcels, received after August 15, 1995. Take a tree out of your back yard with no platting under way and section 530 does not reach you. The catch is that if your lot is inside a newer subdivision with an approved tree preservation plan, trees marked as preserved on that plan cannot simply be removed.
Size threshold
Plymouth measures in aggregate tree inches, not per-tree diameter: "Developments in residential districts may remove or disturb up to 50 percent of the total inches of significant trees. Any removal or disturbance beyond this threshold shall require reforestation or restitution." Non-residential districts get 75 percent.
What's protected in Plymouth
- Significant trees on land going through preliminary plat or lot division
- Trees shown as preserved on an approved tree preservation plan
- Trees within designated Natural Preserves under City Code Section 811
- Vegetation in the Shoreland Management Overlay District
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Plymouth City Code Chapter V (Subdivision Regulations), Section 530 — Tree Preservation; Chapter XX, Section 2020 — Nuisances; Shade Tree Disease and Pest Control; Section 811 — Natural Preserves.
Worth knowing
- Section 530.03 also says the city "does, however, strongly encourage preservation of healthy trees on all properties within the City." Encouragement, not a permit.
- Restitution is priced in the code. For each tree inch removed or disturbed beyond the threshold a subdivider must replant 1.25 inches of new trees or pay the City $175.00. That figure was last amended in February 2026.
- The financial guarantee behind a tree preservation plan is calculated at $125.00 per inch, with a $1,000.00 minimum, and is held until the trees have survived a winter and the city has inspected.
- Section 2020.07 declares Dutch elm disease, oak wilt, emerald ash borer, spongy moth and Asian long-horned beetle infestations public nuisances, plus "any tree or shrub which in the opinion of the Forester, has become or threatens to become a hazard so as to adversely affect the public safety, whether such tree or shrub shall be on public or private property."
- It is unlawful to let one of those nuisances remain on premises you own or control, and the Forester may inspect any premises in the city.
- Section 530.19 requires an amendment request "prior to removal of any trees shown as preserved on an approved plan." That is the trap for a homeowner in a post-1995 Plymouth subdivision.
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 for many Plymouth readers: whether an individual homeowner inside a post-1995 subdivision remains bound by that subdivision's recorded tree preservation plan, and for how long. Section 530.19 implies approved plans keep governing, but the code sets no end date. Call the city before you cut.
- — Whether Plymouth requires any permit for a boulevard or right-of-way tree. The city's website blocks automated access, so we could not read the forestry pages.
- — A direct phone number and email for the City Forester, for the same reason.
- — Permit fees and penalties for unpermitted removal.