Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Rochester's tree permit is a boulevard permit. The Trees chapter of the code puts the parks and recreation department in charge of trees in boulevards, parks and public places, and it is those trees you need written permission to touch. For a tree in your own yard the city publishes no removal permit requirement. What Rochester can do is order you to take down a diseased or hazardous tree as a public nuisance.
What's protected in Rochester
- Boulevard trees, which the city calls public property outright: "Boulevard trees are public property. It is illegal to perform any work to a boulevard tree without a permit."
- Trees in parks and other public places
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Rochester Code of Ordinances Title 9, Chapter 9-4 (Trees), sections 9-4-2 and 9-4-4; Title 6, Chapter 6-2 (Tree Management; Nuisance, Disease and Insect Control).
Worth knowing
- The boulevard rule verbatim: "No person shall plant, trim or remove trees in the boulevard, or use the boulevard area for any purpose other than the growing of grass and trees or public walks, without first obtaining a permit as hereinafter provided."
- Only licensed tree companies are issued boulevard tree work permits, so your contractor applies, not you.
- Rochester says it "will not allow the removal of a public tree without sound justification." Where a structurally sound public tree is approved for removal, the requester pays for removal, stump grinding and a canopy loss fee.
- Section 6-2-1 declares a long list of public nuisances: any elm infected with Dutch elm disease, any oak infected with oak wilt, any standing dead tree or dead brush, and "any tree creating a current public danger whether the tree is on public or private property."
- It is unlawful to let one of those nuisances remain on property you own or control. Under 6-2-6 the city notifies you in writing with a deadline set "based on time of year and type of tree to be removed," and if you miss it the park board abates the nuisance itself.
- Timing matters here: oak wilt removals are generally scheduled for dormancy, November to March, while diseased elms can be handled year-round.
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 boulevard tree work permit fee and the dollar amount of the canopy loss fee. Rochester publishes neither.
- — Whether Rochester's Land Development Manual or zoning code imposes tree preservation or replacement obligations during subdivision or construction. We searched the codified ordinances and found no "significant tree" definition, but the development manual is a separate document we could not read.
- — Penalties for removing a boulevard tree without a permit.