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June 19, 2011

Tree Removal Permit in Austin

Be careful before you remove a tree in your yard if you live in Austin. Many of the trees in Austin are protected. Possibly even some in your yard! The city’s tree protection ordinance is somewhat complicated. Here is some info to get you started.

In residential settings, trees 19″DBH (diameter at breast height, approx 4.5′) and larger are protected
In commercial settings, trees 8″DBH and larger are protected
Trees 24″and larger are classified with heritage status
Removing or pruning out more than 25% of the canopy of a protected tree requires a permit

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November 7, 2010

City of Westlake Hills Tree Ordinance Information

On February 10, 2010 the City of Westlake Hills adopted a new tree ordinance. You can read the document in its entirety here. But, I’d like to offer you these important items in the ordinance.

You must have a permit for any tree pruning if you hire a service. If you do the pruning yourself, there are some allowance, but you should contact Christy to keep yourself out of trouble.
Trees up to 6″diameter can be removed without permit.
Trees 6″and larger can be (keep reading…)

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December 8, 2009

Landscaper’s Guide for Construction Site – Tree Ordinance Mitigation

As a landscaper, your job might not be to manage tree ordinance compliance, but planting trees from this specific list will help your client (the contractor) keep their costs down. Planting trees from the list below will count toward the tree mitigation fines. Any plantings that are done as a requirement to the landscape plan do NOT count toward tree mitigation. But, if you happen to plant above and beyond the requirements then the extra will count.

city of austin_treeList_revised

75% of the trees planted must be from the class one list;25% can be from the class two list.

pdf version of list
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November 23, 2009

My Tree Fell on My Neighbor’s House

Not really. But, that is the foundation for this article. What are the implications if my tree falls on my neighbor’s house? There are two aspects to consider here: the law and insurance perspective.
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November 16, 2009

My Neighbor’s Tree Hangs Over My Property

…And I don’t like it. What is the deal here. It’s his tree but it’s hanging on my side and it’s bothering me. When a tree crosses property lines, that tree is considered shared property. Trees don’t really seem to be as concerned about property lines as we do. In fact, I’d say that on almost every property I visit, there is at least one tree that spans over a property line. Unfortunately, people don’t always have agreeable opinions about the trees. If you have a neighbor’s tree hanging over your property there are a few things you should know.
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