Hendersonville, TN Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

The City of Hendersonville Planning Department maintains a Tree Removal Permit Application and a Tree Removal Permit Application Checklist on its Application & Submittal Information page, alongside an Example Tree Survey, Tree Selection Notes, Tree Planting Detail, Tree Planting Island, Tree Planting Drainage, Root Barrier Detail, Tree Protection Fence Detail, and Tree Staking templates. The Land Disturbance Permit, administered under Title 18 of the Municipal Code (Water and Storm Sewers; revised Stormwater Ordinance effective September 10, 2024), explicitly requires that a Tree Survey and Tree Removal plan be reviewed by Planning before the disturbance permit can issue. Land Disturbance fees are $50 application + $10,000/acre surety. For unregulated activities (a homeowner removing a healthy tree on an existing single-family lot that does not trigger land disturbance review), the City does not require a tree removal permit. Trees within the Old Hickory Lake federal shoreline buffer (waterward of the ordinary high water mark and on USACE fee land) require advance written approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District under the 2020 Shoreline Management Plan; cutting trees greater than 1 inch in diameter is prohibited in Limited Development Areas. Tennessee Code Annotated § 43-28-312 imposes double damages for negligent and triple damages for intentional unauthorized cutting of timber on another's property.