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

City Code §12-302(d) bars removing any park or street tree without permission from the Park & Tree Board, reserving the general power to plant, prune, maintain and remove trees within streets, alleys, lanes, squares and public grounds to the City itself, as public safety requires. Section 12-302(g) then addresses trees the City has found dangerous: the City has the right to cause the removal of any tree within the city limits that is dead or has been declared a hazard, defined in §12-302(a)(3) as a tree with severe structural defects or splits.

Once the City makes that determination, it must notify the tree's owner in writing, and removal itself becomes the responsibility of the owner or owners of the tree, not the City. A separate emergency provision lets City staff bypass the normal Board consent process: under §12-302(i), day-to-day or emergency removal, care or modification of a park or street tree does not need prior Board or Community Forest Manager approval so long as the City's Public Works Director or City Administrator signs off and the Board receives notice within 30 days of the action.

Anyone doing the removal work commercially must carry liability insurance and workers' compensation under §12-302(j), and interfering with the Board, the Community Forest Manager or their agents while they carry out removal work is unlawful under §12-302(h).