Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Raleigh has no general permit for cutting a tree in your own yard. The city's Tree Impact Permit is explicitly a public-tree permit - it covers "any work that occurs on or near a city tree," meaning street trees in the right-of-way and trees on City-owned or controlled land. The private-property catch is a recorded tree conservation area: those were created through the development process on tracts of two acres or more, they run with the land, and inside one you are not allowed to remove or harm vegetation at all.
Size threshold
The UDO tree conservation requirements attach to the site, not to a tree diameter: Sec. 9.1.2 applies them "prior to approval of any subdivision of any tract 2 acres or greater in size or Tier 2 or Tier 3 site plan for a parcel 2 acres or greater." On sites 2 acres and larger with no recorded conservation area, Sec. 9.1.10 bars removing trees 10 inches DBH or larger from the required perimeter buffers, except up to 5 trees between 10 and 22 inches DBH in a rolling 5-year period, with a City permit.
What's protected in Raleigh
- City trees - street trees in the public right-of-way and any tree on City-owned or City-maintained property
- Recorded primary and secondary tree conservation areas, where "tree conservation areas should not be disturbed" and removing or harming vegetation is prohibited
- Perimeter buffers on sites 2 acres and larger that have no recorded tree conservation area
- Champion trees, including the critical root zone, which may not be subjected to any tree disturbing activity under Sec. 9.1.10
- Neuse River riparian buffers and watercourse buffers in a -MPOD overlay
How to apply in Raleigh
- 1
First work out whether the tree is a city tree. Raleigh warns that the public right-of-way "is not a specific distance from the curb" and can be hard to identify without a survey; city inspectors will make the determination on request.
- 2
If it is a city tree, apply for a Tree Impact Permit through the Permit and Development Portal at permitportal.raleighnc.gov - click Apply, then Permits, then search for Tree Impact Permit.
- 3
If your work is already being reviewed by the City on a plan, the tree impact permit is issued through that review instead.
- 4
If the tree is in a recorded tree conservation area, the track is different: Sec. 9.1.6 requires a tree conservation permit, and it is only issued on narrow grounds such as a certified arborist, registered forester or licensed landscape architect certifying in writing that the tree is unsafe or unhealthy.
- 5
Check the county Register of Deeds map, or call one of the tree conservation contacts, to find out whether a tree conservation area is recorded on your parcel.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- UDO Sec. 9.1.7: where unlawful tree disturbing activity has occurred and the trees and stumps are gone, the civil penalty is a minimum of $1,000 for the first tree plus 35 cents for every square foot of unlawful disturbance. Where trees or stumps remain, it is $1,000 for the first tree plus $100 per diameter inch for every other tree or stump 3 inches in diameter and larger. Under Sec. 9.1.10 the same formula applies in perimeter buffers, capped at one third of the land tax value of the site, and the owner must replant one 2-inch caliper tree per 200 square feet disturbed.
- Ordinance
- Raleigh Unified Development Ordinance, Chapter 9 (Natural Resource Protection), Article 9.1 Tree Conservation, Sections 9.1.1 through 9.1.10. The UDO is Part 10 of the Raleigh City Code.
Worth knowing
- A Tree Impact Permit is needed for far more than removal on a city tree: pruning, planting, trenching, grading, auguring or boring in the critical root zone, driving or parking equipment there, storing soil or supplies there, concrete or stone work there, chemical application, and even installing tree protection fence.
- Raleigh measures the critical root zone generously - a radius of 1.25 feet per inch of trunk diameter at 4.5 feet above grade.
- Tree conservation areas have been part of Raleigh development review since May 2005 for plans two acres and larger, so a 1990s subdivision lot is much less likely to have one than a newer one.
- To report a problem with a street tree, or to request pruning, removal or planting of one, use the city online tree service request form rather than applying for a permit.
- Key staff: Mark Davin, Forestry Operations Manager, 919-996-4115. Anthony McLamb, City Arborist, 919-996-4873. Chris Crum, Development Forester, 919-996-2561. Zach Manor, Urban Forester, 919-996-4868.
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 Tree Impact Permit fee, if any. Raleigh does not publish one on the permit page.
- — The UDO Chapter 12 definitions of "minor tree removal activity" and "champion tree." Both are load-bearing - the perimeter buffer rules exempt minor tree removal activity and flatly protect champion trees - but the online UDO does not render the defined-terms text, so the exact wording could not be read.
- — Whether any Raleigh ordinance regulates a healthy tree on an ordinary residential lot outside a recorded tree conservation area. Nothing found says it does, but the city does not state the negative in plain terms either.