Walton County, GA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Walton County folds tree protection into the development permit process rather than a stand-alone tree-cutting permit. Section 12-2-100 applies to any activity on real property that requires a development permit, but it exempts the development of single-family detached and duplex residential lots that remain residential, the construction of public roads and utilities, and land in the Open Space Conservation District except where that district's own guidelines require protection. Agricultural and forestry operations, land clearing for legitimate agricultural purposes and legitimate timber harvesting are exempt outright, as is the removal or transplanting of trees from farms, nurseries or orchards, and agricultural activities on land zoned A, A1 or A2.

Non-residential projects disturbing no more than 5,000 square feet of land are also exempt. An applicant who does not qualify for an exemption must submit a tree protection plan covering the buffer zone, specimen trees and the rest of the property; the Director of Planning and Development reviews it for conformance, and issuance of the development permit constitutes its approval. Trees inside a required buffer zone may be removed only if the owner or developer would suffer an economic hardship by preserving them. Where a lot has no existing trees or more than 5,000 square feet will be disturbed, the owner or developer must landscape to a total tree density of at least fifteen units per acre, computed from the ordinance's diameter-at-breast-height conversion chart for retained trees and its caliper chart for replacement plantings.

A project with a valid land disturbance permit issued before the section's effective date is grandfathered, and the Director can waive the requirements for a larger project that is already 75 percent permitted, though no grandfathered project can run more than 24 months past enactment.