Augusta-Richmond County, GA Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Under Code of Ordinances Tit. 8, Ch. 4, Sec. 8-4-11, the Augusta Commission designates Landmark Trees only after a property owner petition and a Tree Commission review and recommendation, applying the criteria in the Illustrated Guide to Implementing the Augusta Tree Ordinance (IGO). " Anyone who wants to remove a Landmark Tree, whether on public or private property, must first get a permit from the Planning and Development Department through the Tree Commission and state a start date for the removal; an approved Tree Protection/Tree Establishment Plan tied to a Land Disturbing Permit counts as that permit.

Permits to remove a healthy Landmark Tree are granted only if it sits where a structure must go and no other location works, if it is diseased, injured, in danger of falling, or creates an unsafe sight distance, or if it conflicts with another Code provision. Removing a healthy Landmark Tree also triggers mandatory mitigation: the owner must replant trees matching the lost canopy square footage. Section 8-4-11(b) separately requires that if a Landmark Tree is removed during construction, or dies within five years of construction, the developer must replace it with trees or landscaping of equal value, valued by the Director of Planning and Development using Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers standards, or pay an equivalent sum, appraised by an ISA-certified arborist under the ISA Trunk Formula Method, into the Tree Mitigation Fund.

Sec. 8-4-20(2)(c) sets a specific Landmark Tree mitigation fee of $500 per diameter inch removed or damaged, deposited into the same fund, or double-canopy replacement planting.