Irving, TX Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

8 sets up Irving's tree-preservation permitting system, but its reach is narrower than it first appears: subsection (a) exempts any occupied residential property outright, along with commercial property of two acres or less, and any lot in a zoning or overlay district that already carries its own conflicting tree rules. For everyone else, mainly land in active development or redevelopment, subsection (c) requires a tree removal permit from the building official before a protected tree is cut, removed, or destroyed, with permits typically issued after final plat approval by the planning and zoning commission or city council.

The application itself carries no fee and asks for the owner's contact information, the trees' locations, and a written justification for removal; a full tree survey is required only when ten or more trees come down at once. Several categories are exempt from the permit even on covered land: vegetation and trees under six inches in diameter at breast height, trees removed during a declared emergency, utility company removals that threaten service, nursery stock grown for sale, storm-felled trees, and any tree posing an immediate structural or safety threat.

A granted permit is only good for one hundred eighty days before it expires. 9 sets the fallback: a mitigation payment of one hundred ninety-five dollars per inch of diameter at breast height into the city's Tree Mitigation Fund, calculated using the same appraisal method the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers publishes. Owners who disagree with a denial can appeal to the planning and zoning commission and, if denied again, to the Irving City Council within ten business days.