Forsyth County, GA Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

Forsyth County singles out Ailanthus altissima by its scientific name at the top of the 38-species prohibited planting list in Sec. 5(B)(7) of the Unified Development Code, the landscaping standards for the Coal Mountain Overlay District. The overlay covers properties shown on the county's Official Overlay District Map in the Coal Mountain community of northern Forsyth County, and the ban attaches to new development and substantial improvements reviewed there, layered on top of whatever base zoning district otherwise applies. Any landscape plan submitted for the overlay goes to the Planning and Community Development Department for design review under Sec.

4, and Sec. 5(B)(8) requires a registered landscape architect, certified arborist, or registered forester to certify at submittal that the plan meets the code's plant standards, plus a separate contractor certification that whatever gets installed matches the approved plan; both must be filed before the county signs off on the as-built plan or final plat. Tree-of-heaven is a fast-spreading, weak-wooded tree that resprouts aggressively from cut stumps and root fragments, which is why the county groups it with kudzu, princess tree, and mimosa rather than treating it as an ordinary landscape tree; nothing in this section authorizes removing existing tree-of-heaven outside the overlay's planting rules, so the prohibition is forward-looking, on new plantings, not a mandate to remove trees already growing on a lot.