Lenexa, KS Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Article 3-5-J of the Lenexa City Code rests on K.S.A. 12-3201 et seq., which the code cites as the City's authority to regulate the planting, maintenance and removal of trees and shrubs on private property and in the public right-of-way. Section 3-5-J-1 puts the responsibility on the property owner of any lot or parcel, both for trees on the private lot and for those on the adjacent street, alley, sidewalk or right-of-way.

The City's power to force removal on private property is in § 3-5-J-2. It applies when a tree or shrub constitutes a hazard to the public health, safety and welfare or otherwise endangers persons or property, or when it is infested with a tree or plant disease or insect pest or larvae whose uncontrolled presence could damage or destroy other trees or shrubs in the City. Section 3-5-J-2 prints no permit application or fee for taking down a tree on your own lot; it is a notice-and-order rule.

Unless the City reasonably determines the tree is an immediate hazard, it must give notice first. The notice orders the owner to perform maintenance or removal within thirty (30) days. It goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, by personal service, or, if both fail, by posting on the property. If the owner does not comply within that period, or within any extension the City grants in writing, the City can, but is not obligated to, do the work.

The owner carries the whole cost. When the City performs the work, the owner must pay within thirty (30) days of receiving an invoice detailing the costs. After that the City can assess the unpaid amount against the property, and the City Clerk certifies it to the county clerk so it appears on the tax bill and is collected like other City taxes. In an immediate hazard the City can act at once with no prior written notice, and the owner still pays.