Why is clearing for construction handled differently from removing a hazard tree?
A hazard removal is judged on the condition of one tree. A construction removal is judged on the whole lot: what stands there now, what will still stand afterward, and what has to be planted to make up the difference. DeKalb County reviews that through the building permit rather than through the tree notice.
The county's homeowner guide states plainly that removing more than five trees or a specimen tree from an owner-occupied single-family lot may be approved when the owner has to clear in order to build a new structure, add to an existing one, or make improvements. It then warns that construction, clearing and grubbing, or land-disturbance permits may also be required.
So a build does not get a lighter tree review because it is a build. Clearing for construction is a recognized reason to remove trees, not an exemption from the rules about how many, which ones, and what replaces them.
Who regulates the trees on your lot in DeKalb County?
The County Arborist processes applications for unincorporated DeKalb only. Every incorporated city listed below writes and enforces its own tree ordinance, and a county-wide answer will be wrong for most of them.
| Jurisdiction | Who reviews tree removal | What triggers review before a backyard build |
|---|---|---|
| Unincorporated DeKalb County | DeKalb County Arborist, Department of Planning and Sustainability | A signed Tree Ordinance Exemption Certification with the building permit. Beyond five trees or any specimen tree, a tree survey and protection plan. |
| Brookhaven | City of Brookhaven arborists, via the city Project Portal | A permit for the removal of any tree 4 inches DBH or larger, regardless of the tree's condition. |
| Chamblee | City of Chamblee Planning and Development Department | Five non-specimen trees a year on an already developed lot. Specimen size starts at 24 inches for hardwoods, 30 for softwoods, 4 for understory trees. Lots must carry 50 diameter inches of tree per acre. |
| Decatur | City of Decatur arborists | A pre-application meeting with the city arborist before filing any site development, building, plumbing, pool or utility permit that removes trees or disturbs a protected tree's critical root zone. |
| Doraville | City of Doraville arborist | A permit for any tree 3 inches DBH or larger that matures to 15 feet or more. Arborist plan review runs up to 10 business days and can require a tree survey. |
| Dunwoody | City of Dunwoody, Community Development | No removal permit on a single-family lot outside the 75-foot stream buffer, but a minimum site density rule can still force replanting based on lot square footage. |
| Tucker | City of Tucker, Land Development | More than five non-specimen trees in a calendar year, or any healthy specimen tree at 30 inches DBH for large trees and 10 inches for small ones. |
| Stonecrest | City of Stonecrest Arborist Division | The city's own tree protection ordinance, applied through notification, a building permit, or a removal application. |
| Stone Mountain | City of Stone Mountain, City Hall | Up to five non-specimen trees a year on a developed single-family lot without a permit. Beyond that, a city tree removal permit costing $100. |
| The DeKalb portion of Atlanta | City of Atlanta | The City of Atlanta tree ordinance. DeKalb County's thresholds and forms do not apply. |
| Avondale Estates, Clarkston, Lithonia, Pine Lake | Each city, not DeKalb County | Named by the county as outside the County Arborist's authority. Confirm the local rule with the city before any clearing. |
What tree paperwork comes with a DeKalb addition or accessory-structure permit?
The county's Residential Additions Permit Guide covers accessory structures, room additions, second-story additions, garages, carports, decks, porches and pools. Two of its four required documents are about trees.
One is the Tree Ordinance Exemption Form, which the county describes as the form certifying that no trees will be removed during construction. The other is Environmental Requirements for Building Permits, a signed acknowledgement of erosion control and tree protection duties that must be in place before the permit is issued.
The site plan carries the third piece. Prepared by a Georgia-registered engineer or surveyor, it has to show tree locations alongside setbacks, floodplain, state waters and easements, and it passes through Land Development Review for buffers and floodplain after zoning review clears it.
The certification itself runs under Sec. 14-39(c)(1) and applies only to owners of single-family residences adding to an existing home, adding an accessory structure, or building a new house as their own residence. The owner signs it personally.
Two separate statements sit on that one page. First, that the scope of construction on the building permit will not require removing more than five trees between 8 inches and 29 inches DBH. Second, that the owner has not already removed more than five trees in that band during the same calendar year.
The form also states that removing a specimen overstory tree of 30 inches DBH or larger, or a specimen understory tree of 10 inches or greater, is not permitted without approval from the DeKalb County Arborist or the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Worth noting that the construction form counts trees in an 8-to-29-inch band, while the county's homeowner tree guide writes its five-tree allowance around trees over 5 inches DBH. Measure before assuming which count applies to a given trunk.
What order do the tree steps and the building permit come in?
Clearing first is the mistake that costs the most, because the allowance the permit asks you to certify is measured across the whole calendar year.
- Confirm which government reviews your address. An unincorporated DeKalb address goes to the County Arborist. A city address goes to that city. Filing with the wrong one wastes the review window, and the county states that knowing the jurisdiction is the applicant's responsibility.
- Count what has already come down this year. The exemption certification asks the owner to certify removals already made this calendar year, not just removals planned for the build. Trees taken out in the spring reduce what the build can clear in the autumn.
- Meet the arborist before filing, not after. DeKalb encourages a meeting with the County Arborist before applying for a development, building or land-disturbance permit. Decatur goes further and requires a pre-application meeting with its arborist first. In DeKalb, a clearing of ten or more trees makes that meeting mandatory before an application.
- Fix the footprint against the tree survey. A survey showing every significant tree of 8 inches or more, with species, size and condition, is what tells you whether the planned footprint clears a specimen tree. Moving a structure a few feet on paper is cheaper than recompensing a 30-inch oak.
- Fence the root zones before any ground is broken. Tree protection fencing has to be installed prior to any land-disturbing activity and maintained until final landscaping. Fencing put up after the excavator arrives has already failed its purpose.
- Keep the protection in place through the certificate of occupancy. The county calls for an Environmental Development Inspector at least 72 hours before a certificate of occupancy is requested, and all disturbed areas need vegetative cover by then. Fencing pulled early is a compliance problem at the last inspection.
What happens when the build needs more than five trees?
At that point the exemption certification no longer describes the project, and the tree ordinance applies in full. The county's guide says removing more than five but fewer than ten trees may require a clearing and grubbing permit, and that clearing ten or more trees on residential property may be a land-disturbing activity requiring a Land Disturbance Permit.
The county's tree protection checklist sets out what that submittal contains. A tree survey showing size, species and location of every significant tree of 8 inches or more, in a table with condition and density units. Then a tree protection plan with critical root zones, saved trees and replacement trees drawn and calculated.
Preservation is calculated one of two ways: either 120 inches per acre of significant trees saved, or 25 percent of those trees saved. A specimen tree that does come out has to be replaced at one and a half times its DBH in replacement inches, using species that reach comparable size and quality at maturity.
Replacement planting has its own composition rules. At least half the replacement trees must be overstory species, no more than a quarter can be any single species, and no more than a quarter can be evergreen.
How much space does a tree you are keeping actually need?
Trees killed slowly by construction damage are the expensive surprise on a backyard build, because the bill arrives after the structure is finished. DeKalb writes the protection standard around the critical root zone:
- The critical root zone is the circle around the trunk with a radius of one foot per inch of DBH, plus another six feet. A 24-inch oak therefore claims a 30-foot radius.
- No construction activity, parking, storage, solvents, machinery or building debris may sit inside that zone, or inside any tree save area, buffer or stream buffer.
- Up to 20 percent of the critical root zone may be affected. Past that point the county deems the tree destroyed, whether or not it is still standing.
- Tree protection fencing goes in before land disturbance starts, is inspected daily, and stays in functioning condition until the project is complete or the certificate of occupancy is issued.
- A tree designated to be saved and then removed or damaged draws a court summons and recompense in 4-inch caliper trees. For a damaged specimen tree the replacement is calculated at 1.5 times its DBH.
- Required vegetation must be maintained for two growing seasons after the date of final inspection, so the obligation outlasts the build.
Does DeKalb require trees to remain on the lot after the build?
Yes. The county's homeowner guide states that DeKalb code requires at least one or two trees in the front yard of zoned residential neighborhoods, and that each lot carry an average tree density of 15 units per acre.
The tree protection checklist puts numbers on the front-yard rule by zoning district. Two overstory trees of 2 inches DBH in the front yard of R-200, R-150, R-30,000, R-20,000, R-100, R-85 and R-75 properties, and one in the front yard of R-A5, R-50, R-A8 and RDT properties.
Density is the quiet constraint on a rear-yard structure. A lot cleared to its minimum before design starts may have to plant its way back up, and replacement trees take yard space that the new building and its parking already want.
Dunwoody makes the same point from the opposite direction. A single-family lot outside the stream buffer needs no removal permit at all, yet the city's minimum density rule can still require new planting if too few existing trees are preserved.
Related conditions in DeKalb County
Sources
- DeKalb County Homeowner Guide for Tree Removal (Planning and Sustainability): https://dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/WEB%20Homeowner%20Tree%20Removal%20Guide.pdf
- DeKalb County Checklist for Tree Protection: Tree Survey, Protection and Replacement (2025): https://dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/2025%20Plan%20Submittal%20Checklist%20for%20Tree%20Protection.pdf
- DeKalb County Residential Additions Permit Guide, rev. 03/2025, including the Tree Ordinance Exemption Certification and Environmental Requirements for Building Permits: https://dekalbcountyga.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Residential%20Additions%20Guide%20-%202025.pdf
- City of Brookhaven, Tree Canopy Preservation: https://www.brookhavenga.gov/253/Tree-Canopy-Preservation
- City of Chamblee, Residential Tree Preservation Guide, rev. 6/17/2025: https://cms3.revize.com/revize/chamblee/department/planning-developlement/Residential%20Tree%20Preservation%20Guide%2061725.pdf
- City of Decatur, Tree Canopy Conservation Ordinance: https://www.decaturga.com/dec/page/tree-canopy-conservation-ordinance
- City of Doraville, Tree Permits: https://www.doravillega.us/services/community_development/permits/tree_permit.php
- City of Dunwoody, Tree Regulations: https://www.dunwoodyga.gov/government/departments/community-development/permits-inspections/tree-regulations
- City of Tucker, Tree Removal Permit: https://www.tuckerga.gov/land-disturbance-permits/tree-removal-permit/
- City of Stonecrest, Arborist Division: https://stonecrestga.gov/366/Arborist-Division
- City of Stone Mountain, Tree Removal Permit application: https://cms4files1.revize.com/stonemountain/Tree%20Removal%20Permit%2002.15.24.pdf