Do you need a permit?
It depends on the tree
Woodbury is the clearest city in this file and the answer is generous with one hard limit. On a platted residential lot you may remove up to 100 percent of the trees with no replacement required, with a single exception: a Specimen tree needs a permit from the city first. Specimen means a healthy hardwood deciduous tree 30 inches or more in diameter, or a healthy conifer 20 feet or more tall. Undeveloped parcels work differently and need 14 days of advance notice.
Size threshold
Specimen tree: "a healthy Hardwood Deciduous tree, measuring equal to or greater than thirty (30) inches in Diameter or a healthy Coniferous tree measuring twenty (20) feet in height." Significant tree: "a healthy tree measuring a minimum of six (6) inches in Diameter for Hardwood Deciduous trees, six (6) inches in Diameter or twelve (12) feet in height for Coniferous trees, or twelve (12) inches in Diameter for Common trees." Diameter is measured 4.5 feet above the ground.
What's protected in Woodbury
- Specimen trees. A permit is required before removing one, on any parcel.
- Significant trees, where removal would exceed 30 percent of the total diameter inches on a parcel
- Trees on undeveloped parcels, which require 14 days of prior notice to the city
- Trees on existing developed commercial property, which must be replaced per the original landscaping plan
- Trees inside wetland buffers under Chapter 27, Division 2
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Woodbury City Code Chapter 27 (Environmental Management), Division 4 — Protection of Woodlands, sections 27-38 through 27-42; Division 5 — Urban Forestry Management, sections 27-52 through 27-54.
Worth knowing
- Verbatim from 27-41(c): "Owners of platted residential lots may remove up to one hundred (100) percent of the trees on the lot without replacement, with the exception of Specimen trees. (2) Before a Specimen tree is removed, an owner must obtain a permit from the City."
- Common trees, defined as aspen, boxelder, cottonwood, elm, poplar and willow, only become significant at 12 inches diameter rather than six.
- Dead trees are explicitly exempt: "There are no restrictions or permit requirements for removal of dead trees."
- On an undeveloped parcel you may remove up to 30 percent of the trees with 14 days of prior notice. Above 30 percent you need either a forest management plan developed and approved by the DNR regional forester, or a city permit, and the permit application must include a certified inventory of the size, species and location of every significant tree on the property.
- A permit on an undeveloped parcel carries a ten-year string: if the property is developed within ten years, the developer must replace the trees already removed under the tree replacement schedule.
- A tree preservation plan, prepared by a certified forester, registered landscape architect, ISA Certified Arborist or Registered Consultant Arborist, is separately required for new development, new building construction, any project needing a city land disturbance permit, removal of any healthy Specimen tree on any parcel, or removal of more than 30 percent of the significant tree diameter inches on any parcel.
- Section 27-54 makes it unlawful to let a nuisance tree remain on your property: any tree infected with Dutch elm disease, oak wilt or emerald ash borer, and any standing dead tree or limb threatening people or property. The city forester can abate it as a public improvement under Minn. Stat. ch. 429 and assess the cost to you.
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 fee for a Specimen tree removal permit, and which city office actually issues it. The code says only "a permit from the City," so call Planning at 651-714-3533 to confirm where to file.
- — How long the city takes to act on a Specimen tree permit. The 14-day turnaround written into 27-41(a)(5) applies to undeveloped parcels.
- — Penalties for removing a Specimen tree without a permit. The code sets out a notice-of-tree-replacement mechanism for unauthorized removal on undeveloped parcels but does not state a fine.
- — A direct phone number and email for the city forester.