Laurens County, SC Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

Tree-of-heaven, Ailanthus altissima, appears by both common and scientific name on Table D.6 of chapter 33's tree protection appendix, the county's list of nuisance tree species tied to the Residential Subdivisions Ordinance. The ordinance states that species on Table D.6 "are considered invasive and should be removed," and it excuses them from the permit and preservation rules that otherwise apply to any hardwood 8 inches or more in diameter: because tree-of-heaven is nuisance-listed, a developer clearing a site can cut it without first obtaining the tree removal development permit chapter 33 requires for protected, specimen and historic trees.

The exemption runs both ways. A felled tree-of-heaven earns no credit toward the ordinance's replacement-tree obligation, and the species cannot be planted to satisfy any of the subdivision ordinance's landscaping, buffer or street-tree standards in new residential or commercial development. Outside of Table D.6, the Laurens County Code has no separate provision addressing tree-of-heaven by name, no county-wide requirement that an existing property owner remove one, and no standalone invasive-species ordinance reaching beyond the subdivision development review process; the zoning chapter that might otherwise carry a broader invasive-plant rule is an unadopted placeholder.

If a developer instead tries to count a retained or newly planted tree-of-heaven toward a required buffer or replacement calculation, county planning staff can reject the site plan at review, and a resulting subdivision violation carries chapter 33's standard civil penalty of up to $200.00 per day under section 33-123.