Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Stillwater has no tree removal permit. The Land Development Code sets planting and maintenance standards that it says are "applicable to trees on both public and private property," but they govern where a tree may be planted and what the City may do about a hazardous one, not whether you may cut your own. Landscape area requirements apply to multiple-family, commercial and industrial development, not to houses. The one tree permit in the whole Stillwater code runs the other way: under the airport hazard regulations you can need a permit to let a tree GROW past a height limit.
Size threshold
None for removal. The only diameter figures serve notice rules: Section 23-230(c)(2)a requires the City or a franchised utility to give three days' posted written notice before working on a tree on your property or the adjacent right-of-way "when the trimming involves removing any branch greater than 1 1/2 inches diameter or more than five branches of less than one-half-inch diameter." Section 23-7 defines Caliper as "the diameter of the tree trunk measured at a specified distance above ground." The airport hazard permit uses height, not diameter: 75 feet of vertical height above the ground in the horizontal, conical, approach and transition zones.
What's protected in Stillwater
- None by species or size. The only category-based rules concern location: Section 23-230(c)(1)e restricts what may be planted near utilities - "Only those trees listed as small trees may be planted under or within ten lateral feet of any overhead utility wire, or over or within five lateral feet of any underground water, sewer, electric, telephone, cable or natural gas line" - and adds that any tree planted in a dedicated easement "will be subject to damage, pruning and removal, as necessary, to allow full utilization of the easement."
- Trees that exceed airport height limits. Article XX (Airport Hazard Regulations) treats a tree the same as a structure; permits and variances turn on vertical height above ground in the mapped zones, and a variance application must be accompanied by "a determination from the Federal Aviation Administration as to the effect of the proposal on the operation of air navigation facilities."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- None for tree removal, because no removal permit exists. Where the city manager orders a hazardous tree removed and the owner does not act within ten days, Section 23-230(c)(2)d says "the city shall proceed to have the tree removed and bill the property owner the cost of removal. A lien shall also be placed on the property to recover the cost of tree removal." Article XXII sets the Land Development Code's general penalties.
- Ordinance
- Stillwater City Code Chapter 23 (Land Development Code), Article IX (Landscaping, Screening and Environmental Standards), Section 23-230, and Article XX (Airport Hazard Regulations). Nuisance and weed provisions are in Chapter 18 (Environment). Stillwater has no chapter or article titled Trees and no tree ordinance separate from the Land Development Code. Code codified through Ordinance No. 3594, enacted April 6, 2026 (Supp. No. 12).
Worth knowing
- The City can order a private tree cut down, and defines removal narrowly. Section 23-230(c)(2)d: "When, on the basis of citizen complaint or observation by the city manager, the city manager determines that a tree poses a safety threat to persons in public ways or adjacent private or public property, the city manager may order the tree, or any portion thereof, to be removed... For the purposes of this chapter, removal shall mean cutting the tree off at ground level." You get ten days' written notice and may appeal to the Board of Adjustment within ten days, which stays the removal.
- You get warning before the City or a utility prunes, except after a disaster. Section 23-230(c)(2)b: "In the case of major ice storms, tornadoes or other natural disasters, posted written notice will not be left."
- Landscape area requirements skip houses. Section 23-230(d) applies to "multiple-family, commercial and industrial park uses," and defines multiple-family as "more than four dwelling units per lot." For parking areas of more than 20 spaces the required landscape area is "at least nine percent of the developed portion of the lot."
- Planting setbacks apply on private property too. Section 23-230(c)(1)a: outside the CB district, "trees shall be planted no closer to any public curb or sidewalk than three feet for small trees, four feet for medium trees, and five feet for large trees."
- If your development plan says you will save trees, the building permit has to show how. Section 23-230(c)(2)c: "If development plans include preservation of existing trees or other vegetation on site during construction, the building permit plans shall specify the method to be used to protect the trees or vegetation."
- Stillwater licenses no tree services. No arborist, tree service or tree trimmer license appears in Chapter 12 (Businesses).
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.
- — Whether the City of Stillwater actually staffs a city forester. Section 23-230(c)(2)d refers to "notification by the city forester" but no section creates the position and no forestry page was found on stillwaterok.gov.
- — A direct email address for Stillwater Streets or for tree questions. The Streets page publishes a phone and address only.
- — Whether Stillwater's overlay districts (Article XIII) or the Corridor Redevelopment Area Planning District (Article XXV) impose tree rules. Those articles were not read in full for this entry.
- — The specific tree classifications. Section 23-230(b) says "The planning commission shall establish classifications of trees by category of small, medium, and large," and that list is not in the code.
- — Whether an ordinary private tree truly needs nothing. Chapter 23 imposes standards and City powers without creating a removal permit; that is the absence of a permit, not a written permission.