Kirkwood, MO Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 24-3(c)(2) of the Tree Code sets out the process for removing a public tree, meaning a tree standing in the City's right-of-way next to a property. A property owner who wants one gone has to apply for a permit to remove; the Urban Forester or an appointed representative then reviews the application and inspects the tree in person. If the inspection finds the tree hazardous, the City itself handles the removal, at no separate approval step for the owner. If the tree is not a hazard, the application instead goes to the Kirkwood Urban Forestry Commission for review.

The Commission can recommend to the Urban Forester that the adjoining owner be allowed to remove the tree at the owner's own expense, and that recommendation has to be made in writing to both the Urban Forester and the applicant; the Urban Forester still makes the final call. As a condition of approving removal, the Commission can also recommend that the owner plant a replacement tree of at least two inches in caliper from an approved species in the Tree Manual, or pay a replanting fee calculated the same way as the damage fee in Section 24-4(f)(1), which runs $250 per adjusted diameter inch.

If the Urban Forester denies the application, the tree cannot be removed. A separate, unrelated process under Section 24-3(c)(3) covers permits to plant a new tree in the right-of-way, which exempts the applicant from a separate excavation permit.