Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
The answer for Silver Spring depends entirely on which side of a city line you are on, and the line is invisible from your mailbox. Silver Spring itself is unincorporated Montgomery County, where an ordinary tree in an ordinary yard needs no permit. But a "Silver Spring, MD" address can sit inside the City of Takoma Park, which has one of the strictest private-property tree ordinances in the mid-Atlantic: a permit is required to remove any tree with "a trunk measuring 24 inches or more in circumference (7 and five-eighths inches diameter) at 4.5 feet above ground level," it costs $50, neighbours get fifteen days to appeal, and you have to replant. Takoma Park's own Public Works building is at 31 Oswego Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910, which tells you how easily this is missed.
Size threshold
Unincorporated Montgomery County: no trunk-diameter threshold. The county code exempts tree work from the land-disturbing permit expressly, at section 19-2(b)(3): "tree cutting that leaves the stump, ground cover, and root mat intact and which disturbs less than 5,000 square feet of tree canopy area." Leave the stump and root mat in the ground or the exemption does not apply. City of Takoma Park: an "urban forest tree" is a tree that "Has a trunk measuring 24 inches or more in circumference (7 and five-eighths inches diameter) at 4.5 feet above ground level; or Is required to be planted or maintained, pursuant to governmental order, agreement, stipulation, covenant, easement, or a tree protection plan, or as a condition of issuance of a tree permit; or Is planted with government funding or under a government program." Inside the Montgomery County Historic District the Historic Preservation Commission "maintains its permitting process for removing a tree larger than 6 inches in diameter."
What's protected in Silver Spring
- Urban forest trees on private property in Takoma Park — 7 and five-eighths inches diameter and up. "Urban Forest Trees ... located on private property shall not be removed without first obtaining a Tree Removal Permit."
- Any tree in Takoma Park planted or maintained under a government order, agreement, covenant, easement, tree protection plan or permit condition, or planted with government funding, regardless of size.
- Trees near a Takoma Park construction, landscaping or pruning project: "Before beginning a construction, landscaping, or tree pruning project near or on an urban forest tree, you must first confirm whether or not you need to apply for a Tree Impact Assessment and a Tree Protection Plan Permit." The city warns that this reaches "any project within 50 feet of an Urban Forest Tree."
- Trees in any road right-of-way anywhere in the county, which need a Maryland DNR permit and, on a county-maintained road, a county permit too.
- Trees larger than 6 inches diameter inside a Montgomery County Historic District, which need a Historic Area Work Permit from the Historic Preservation Commission of Montgomery Planning.
- Trees in a conservation easement, and Montgomery County Champion Trees on the Forestry Board's Champion Tree Register — both need permission from the Montgomery Planning Forest Conservation Inspector.
How to apply in Silver Spring
- 1
Establish your jurisdiction first. This is the step people skip. If your address is inside Takoma Park city limits, county guidance does not apply to you — the county says so itself: "Are you in an incorporated city, town, or village? If yes, contact your city, town, or village officials directly before performing any tree work."
- 2
In unincorporated Silver Spring, work through Montgomery County's published checklist. If the tree is not in a right-of-way, easement, historic site or Champion Tree register, and you are not disturbing more than 5,000 square feet, there is nothing to file.
- 3
In Takoma Park, start the Tree Removal Permit Application on the MyTKPK web portal. One application covers up to five trees.
- 4
Pay the invoice when it arrives by email. The city notes you "may need to adjust your internet browser settings to allow 'pop-ups' from the MyTKPK page for the invoice payment page to load properly."
- 5
Mark the trees: "Tie a piece of ribbon or string around each tree to be inspected to identify it for the Urban Forest Manger's visit."
- 6
Wait for inspection. "Please allow 3 to 5 business days for the Urban Forest Manager to conduct the inspection." Then one of three outcomes: an immediate permit if dead or hazardous, a denial if the tree is healthy and significant, or Preliminary Approval which starts a 15-day appeal window.
- 7
If you get Preliminary Approval, satisfy the replanting requirement. "A replacement planting plan must be provided within six months of preliminary approval, or the permit application will be automatically withdrawn."
- 8
Do not cut early. "you may not remove the tree(s) until you have received notice from the City of Takoma Park stating that you have received your permit."
- 9
For more than ten trees, hold a community meeting first: "An application for the removal of more than 10 trees will not be reviewed until after this community meeting has occurred."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Unincorporated Montgomery County charges nothing for an ordinary private tree because no permit is needed. Takoma Park prices it plainly: "The standard application fee is $50. If all trees in the application are dead, the fee is $25. Up to five trees may be included in one application." Montgomery County's Tree Canopy Law mitigation, where a sediment control permit is involved, was "$470 per tree" as of April 30, 2024, adjusted July 1 of each odd year. A Maryland DNR Roadside Tree Project Permit is $25.00.
- Penalties
- Takoma Park does not publish a penalty figure on its tree permit pages; the enforcement provisions sit in Municipal Code Chapter 12.12. For roadside trees the state penalty applies directly under Maryland Natural Resources Article section 5-406(e), which makes a person who cuts or injures a roadside tree without a permit "liable for the imposition of a penalty." Montgomery County warns separately about cutting a neighbour's tree: a trespasser "may be liable for any surveys or appraisals needed, court costs that may incur, and up to triple the amount of the value of the trees or timber cut."
- Ordinance
- City of Takoma Park Municipal Code, Chapter 12.12 — Urban Forest, including section 12.12.080 (community meeting for more than ten trees) and section 12.12.085 (tree protection plan permit standards and appeals). Montgomery County: Chapter 55 (Tree Canopy Law); Roadside Tree Law at Chapter 2-112, Chapter 8-26, Chapter 19-71 and Chapter 49 sections 49-35, 49-36 and 49-36A; and the Forest Conservation Law, originally enacted in 1992 and implemented by the Montgomery Planning Department. State law on top: Maryland Natural Resources Article sections 5-401 through 5-411 and 5-1601 through 5-1613.
Worth knowing
- The boundary problem is real and physical. Takoma Park's own Public Works facility carries a Silver Spring 20910 address. A postal "Silver Spring" address proves nothing about which government regulates your trees.
- Takoma Park lets your neighbours object. Every preliminary approval "must be posted for 15 days to allow for public comment," the city publishes the pending list with address, appeal deadline, trunk diameter and tree location, and "Any resident of Takoma Park may appeal a preliminary approval during the posting period."
- Appeals in Takoma Park are heard by a citizen Tree Commission in a quasi-judicial hearing, with a decision within 30 days and a further 30 days to petition the Circuit Court. Two things cannot be appealed: "The number of trees required for replanting" and "A determination that a tree is dead or hazardous."
- Takoma Park can say no outright. "In cases where a tree is determined to be in good health, outstanding in size, contributing significantly to urban forest canopy cover, and for which no compelling need to remove the tree is presented, the permit will be denied."
- Invasive species get a shortcut, not an exemption. Takoma Park keeps an Undesirable list — white mulberry, tree-of-heaven, mimosa, Bradford pear, Norway maple, female ginkgo, autumn olive, Russian olive. "A permit for the removal of an Undesirable tree cannot be denied or appealed, but it still requires an application and inspection. The replanting requirement still applies but it will be half the regular amount."
- Do not file a permit for a public tree in Takoma Park: "Do not apply for a Tree Removal Permit! For concerns with trees located in public spaces, please contact the Urban Forest Manager directly."
- Silver Spring is not in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. Montgomery County does not appear on the Critical Area Commission's list of Critical Area jurisdictions, and Silver Spring drains to Rock Creek and the Anacostia, neither of which is tidal here.
- Silver Spring ZIP codes 20904 and 20905 fall inside the Upper Paint Branch Special Protection Area, and Upper Paint Branch is the strictest of the county's five SPAs. Montgomery Planning lists as subject to SPA rules "Any land-disturbing activity in the Upper Paint Branch SPA," and adds that "Except in the Upper Paint Branch SPA, the SPA law provides for exemptions and grandfathering." SPA provisions are in Chapter 19, Article V (sections 19-60 to 19-67). Check your address at mcatlas.org/spa or call DEP Watershed Management at 240-777-7736 before clearing anything there.
- The tree company you hire must hold a Maryland Licensed Tree Expert licence under Natural Resources Article section 5-417(a)(1). Montgomery County states it plainly: "In Maryland, anyone being paid to work on, evaluate, give advice about trees must be licensed through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service." Verify at 410-260-8521.
- For a genuine hazard anywhere in the county, an LTE may act first: "the hazard may be removed as soon as possible by an LTE. The LTE must notify, in writing, the appropriate agency within 14 days." But "all non-hazardous sections of the tree must remain until required permits are obtained." Takoma Park runs a separate Emergency Removals page.
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 verbatim text of Takoma Park Municipal Code Chapter 12.12 and its amendment history. Everything quoted above comes from the City of Takoma Park's own published tree permit pages, which are primary but are the city's summary of its own code rather than the code text. The adopting ordinance numbers and dates for Chapter 12.12 could not be confirmed.
- — Takoma Park's penalty for removing an urban forest tree without a permit. No figure is published on the city's tree pages.
- — The exact replacement-planting formula. The city says "Larger and healthier trees that are removed require a greater number of replacement trees, as per the code-defined formula" and refers to a fee-in-lieu option, but neither the formula nor the in-lieu rate is published on the permit pages.
- — The verbatim text of Montgomery County Code Chapter 55 and Chapter 49 sections 49-35, 49-36 and 49-36A. The county code is published on American Legal, which blocks automated access intermittently; Chapter 19 was retrieved but those chapters were not, and provisions from them above are quoted from Montgomery County's own published summaries.
- — Whether a Silver Spring homeowner in the Upper Paint Branch Special Protection Area (ZIP 20904 or 20905) who cuts one tree, leaves the stump and root mat, disturbs under 5,000 square feet of canopy and does no construction triggers any SPA obligation. Montgomery Planning's "Any land-disturbing activity in the Upper Paint Branch SPA" language is broader than the development-triggered framing in section 19-62(b), and the enabling text in the Upper Paint Branch Overlay Zone in Chapter 59 could not be read because the published links are stale. No source says yes and no source says no, so neither answer is reported. Call DEP Watershed Management at 240-777-7736.
- — An authoritative address lookup that tells a resident whether a given Silver Spring address is inside Takoma Park. Takoma Park publishes a Ward Map and Street Directory and Montgomery County publishes a property map, but neither was confirmed as a jurisdiction-boundary checker. Calling Takoma Park at 301-891-7100 is the reliable route.
- — Whether other small municipalities near Silver Spring — Kensington, the Town of Chevy Chase, the Village of North Chevy Chase — impose their own private-property tree permits. Each is a separate incorporated jurisdiction and was not researched.
Sources
- City of Takoma Park — Tree Removal Permit
- City of Takoma Park — Tree Permits and the definition of an Urban Forest Tree
- City of Takoma Park — How to Apply for a Tree Removal Permit
- City of Takoma Park — Tree Commission
- Montgomery County DEP — Tree Permits, Removal and Concerns
- Montgomery County DEP — Tree Laws and Programs
- Montgomery County DPS — Roadside Tree Plan Permit Process
- Montgomery County Code section 19-2 — Permits required, and the tree-cutting exemption
- Montgomery County — Special Protection Area map
- Maryland Natural Resources Article section 5-406 — Roadside Tree Law
- Maryland DNR — Licensed Tree Expert lookup
- Maryland Critical Area Commission — local planning and zoning contacts