Puyallup, WA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

28, the street tree ordinance, governs tree removal and injury within the public street rights-of-way and easements the city controls, not private-yard trees generally. 035 requires anyone who wants to significantly prune or remove a tree, shrub or other vegetation from areas the chapter controls to first obtain a public works construction permit from the community development department; public utilities and city employees performing the same work are exempted from that permit requirement. Anyone planting a tree in those areas must also complete a no-fee street tree installation census with the community development department, and the permit requirement stacks on top of, rather than replaces, any other permit or license otherwise required by law.

040 separately makes it unlawful to destroy, injure or deface a street tree by any means, listing examples: pouring toxic material on a tree or the ground near it, attaching signs, posters or fastening wire, cable, rope, nails or screws to a tree, except to support a young or broken tree or the city's own temporary event banners, causing or encouraging fire near a tree, or cutting bark or branches with a knife, hatchet or similar tool. 00 fine or 30 days imprisonment or both per day of continuing violation, plus the city's compliance costs and the tree's replacement and installation value under the International Society of Arboriculture's valuation standard. 050 on a hardship showing. The chapter traces to Ordinance 2451 (1995).