Jonesboro, AR Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Sec. 1 of the Jonesboro Code governs tree removal on any site where clearing, filling, cutting, quarrying, or construction disturbs one acre or more and removes more than seven significant trees within a 12-month period. Before that threshold is reached, the owner or developer must apply to the planning department for a tree removal permit and submit a site development plan; a city official may grant a limited case-by-case exemption. A tree qualifies as 'significant' if it measures at least 18 inches in diameter at four and a half feet above grade, has a multi-stem trunk with at least one six-inch stem, or is an ornamental tree over six inches in diameter at eight inches above grade.

Black locust, cottonwood, and Bradford pear are excluded from the significant-tree count regardless of size. Where significant trees fall inside the disturbed construction area, the developer must replant at a 1-to-5 ratio (one new tree for every five removed); trees removed outside the disturbed area must be replaced 5-to-1. Replacement stock must be at least two and a half inches in diameter and eight feet tall for deciduous and ornamental trees, or ten feet tall for evergreens. Owners unable to replant on-site may instead donate replacement trees to city parks, greenways, or trails, or pay a fee in lieu set by a landscape professional and deposited into the city's tree preservation account.

Trees and buffers that are kept must be shielded during construction by four-foot chain-link or polyethylene laminar fencing placed at the drip line, marked with posted 'tree protection area' signs.