When do you need a City of Frisco tree removal permit?

You need a City of Frisco Tree Removal Permit to remove or transplant any tree in the city, regardless of size or species, unless the tree is on a single-family or two-family lot within a plat of record. Unplatted acreage, commercial sites and land being developed all need the permit, an approved tree survey and planned mitigation before clearing starts.

That rule comes from the City of Frisco’s zoning ordinance, Subsection 4.01, and it shapes almost every clearing job inside city limits that is not an existing home lot. This guide from Homestead Land Clearing explains who the permit applies to, what counts as a protected tree, how the survey and replacement math work, and the field rules that apply while machines are on site.

Who needs the permit

The City’s rule is broad on purpose. Frisco requires a Tree Removal Permit from the Director for transplanting or removing all trees in the City, regardless of size or species, with one main exception: trees on a single-family or two-family lot contained within a plat of record.

In practice:

• Existing home on a platted lot. Usually outside the permit. Removing a backyard tree on a recorded subdivision lot does not need City approval, though HOA covenants, utility easements and floodplain limits can still apply.
• Unplatted acreage. Inside the permit. A tract that has never been platted, even with a house on it, falls under the rule.
• Land being developed. Inside the permit, and the tree survey is also required with zoning cases, preliminary plats, site plans, grading plans and civil sets.
• Commercial and multifamily sites. Inside the permit.

Frisco’s city limits cover about 69 square miles with only about one square mile of extraterritorial jurisdiction, according to the City, so most land around Frisco is inside the rule. Neighboring towns write their own ordinances: Prosper uses a similar platted-lot exception, while Celina replaces trees by species type.

What counts as a protected tree

The permit covers every tree, but mitigation applies to protected trees. Frisco’s code defines a protected tree as a healthy tree 6 inches or larger in diameter at breast height (4.5 feet) that normally reaches 12 feet at maturity and is not on the excluded species list in the City’s Development Application Handbook. Inside the riparian buffer, any tree 4 inches or larger is protected regardless of species. The City maintains a riparian buffer map for creeks and tributaries.

Two practical points follow. First, small trees still need the permit even when they carry no replacement. Second, whether a cedar, hackberry or mesquite is protected depends on the City’s excluded list, which lives in the handbook rather than the ordinance. Check the current handbook for your species before assuming a tree is exempt.

What the application needs

According to the ordinance, an application includes:

• A letter giving access and showing the owner’s authorization
• Written reasons for the removal
• Two copies of a site planting plan
• A detailed tree survey and tree preservation plan

The survey has to be prepared by an arborist with the credential the ordinance requires or by a Texas-licensed landscape architect. It records each tree’s location, size and species and shows which trees stay and which go. On a development project, the same survey travels with every plan submittal.

The order things must happen in

Frisco’s tree code controls sequence as much as substance:

1. The tree survey and preservation plan are approved.
2. Mitigation is paid or planned.
3. The permit is issued.
4. Protective fencing goes up around trees to be kept, 4-foot plastic fence at the drip line, and is inspected before the preconstruction meeting or grading permit.
5. The City’s landscape architect verifies the marked trees in the field.
6. Only then can clearing or grading proceed.

For an early grading permit, survey approval comes first, and no clearing may proceed until the tree removal permit is issued. That timeline belongs in a project schedule. A clearing date set before the permit is in hand is a guess.

How tree mitigation works

Mitigation is a percentage of the diameter inches removed, scaled by tree size:

Replacement trees must be at least 3 inches in caliper. Owners can plant on site, pay into the City’s Tree Mitigation Fund at a cash value per inch that the Director sets each year, or combine the two. That per-inch value is not published in the sources reviewed, so ask the City for the current figure. Trees 4 inches or more in the pre-reclamation riparian buffer or floodplain must be mitigated regardless of species. Multi-trunk trees count the largest stem plus half of each additional stem.

The math gets large fast. As an illustration only, a single tree over 20 inches carries three times its diameter in replacement inches, and each replacement tree counts for its own caliper, at least 3 inches. That is why selective clearing around the biggest trees often costs less overall than taking everything.

State limits on mitigation fees

Texas Local Government Code 212.905 limits what cities can charge. A city may not require a mitigation fee for a tree under 10 inches in diameter on an existing one- or two-family home that is the owner’s residence. A city that charges mitigation fees must allow a tree-planting credit for trees at least 2 inches in diameter: 100 percent of the fee for planting at your own residence, at least 50 percent for residential development that is not your own residence, and at least 40 percent for non-residential work (Texas Legislature).

Fees

The City’s zoning and development fee schedule lists tree survey review at $0, and no separate tree removal permit fee appears in it. The real costs are the survey, the replacement trees or fund payment, and the time the review takes. Since August 1, 2026, the City applies a 6% technology fee to permits, projects, licenses and submittals processed through its land development and permitting system, with limited exclusions set by ordinance. The land clearing cost per acre guide shows where these lines sit in a full clearing budget.

Rules while work is under way

The permit is not the end of it. Frisco’s tree code also sets field rules:

• Drip lines. Mowing and clearing brush within the drip line of a protected tree may be allowed with approval from the Development Services landscape architect, but only by hand or with mechanical mowers on turf tires. Fill and excavation inside the drip line are prohibited.
• Root pruning. Required at least two weeks before any disturbance under a drip line.
• Debris. Removed trees must be chipped and used as mulch on site or hauled off within 72 hours of cutting. A forestry mulching approach or a planned debris haul-off handles this.
• Floodplain. Removing trees or other vegetation in the base floodplain or floodway, including by herbicide, needs a grading permit or a letter of approval from the City under a separate ordinance. Fines run $300 per caliper inch per tree and $300 per 100 square feet of vegetation, up to $2,000 per offense, and the contractor is subject to the same fines as the owner. See clearing near creeks and floodplain.

Penalties

The City can issue stop-work orders, and each tree removed without a permit is a separate offense. For a clearing contractor and an owner alike, the cheapest path is the permit first.

How this fits a clearing job

Checking the rules for the address is step two of Homestead Land Clearing’s process, right after walking the property for boundaries, keeper trees, slopes, wet spots, fences and anything buried or overhead. The written scope that follows names which trees come out, how keepers are protected and where the wood goes, before a price. The work is done by licensed and insured contractors. The lot clearing page covers residential lots, and clearing land to build a house shows where the permit falls in a building schedule.

Contact Homestead Land Clearing to start, or read the cornerstone guide to clearing land in North Texas for the wider picture.