Tyler Tree Rules and Brush Disposal Guide

Most Tyler homeowners can remove or trim trees on their own lot without a city permit. The rules that do apply cover brush pickup, oak timing, power lines and burning.

Tyler TX Tree is a referral website, not a tree service company. We send your request to one independent local tree service company. You never pay us; companies we refer you to may pay us for referrals. This guide is general information from the sources listed below, not legal advice.

The rules at a glance

Topic	What applies in Tyler	Who sets it
Tree permit on a single-family lot	None from the tree preservation section, which covers multifamily, commercial, office and manufacturing districts	City of Tyler UDC Sec. 10-301
Clearing an undeveloped site	Clearing and grading permit required first	City of Tyler UDC Sec. 10-302, 10-303
Small limb bundles	Picked up free if under 50 lb together and under 4 ft	City of Tyler Solid Waste
Bigger brush, stumps	Paid special pick-up, from $20	City of Tyler Solid Waste
Oak pruning	Avoid February through June; paint every fresh wound	Texas A&M Forest Service
Power lines	No work within six feet of a high-voltage line without the line owner's safety arrangements	Texas Health and Safety Code Ch. 752
Burning brush	Banned during a county burn ban; otherwise state rules apply	Smith County, TCEQ

Who needs a tree permit in Tyler

Tyler's Unified Development Code, Chapter 10, holds the tree rules.

• Single-family homeowners. The tree preservation section (Sec. 10-301) applies to land in multifamily, commercial, office and manufacturing districts. A homeowner trimming or removing a tree in the yard isn't covered by it.
• Agricultural land. The code says there is no tree preservation requirement in the Agricultural Zone.
• Undeveloped sites. A clearing and grading permit is required before any agricultural timbering, predevelopment clearing or depositing fill (Sec. 10-302). Underbrushing outside the buffer areas doesn't need a permit, but healthy trees 6 inches or more in diameter at breast height can't be removed without one. Details are on the land clearing page.
• HOAs. Deed restrictions can be stricter than the city. Check yours before you sign a contract.

Street and right-of-way trees

The code gives the city the right to plant, prune and remove trees within streets, alleys and public grounds, and to remove any tree there that's unsafe or damaging sewers, power lines, gas or water lines. Trees on city property are managed by the Parks and Recreation Department. If a tree is in the street right-of-way rather than clearly on your lot, call the City of Tyler at (903) 531-1100 before anyone cuts it.

Brush and limb pickup

The City of Tyler's Solid Waste rules decide whether your brush pile is free or billed:

• Free: bundled limbs that together weigh less than 50 pounds and measure less than 4 feet.
• Bulk brush: anything unbundled, longer than 4 feet or heavier than 50 pounds. Bulk brush, limbs, tree stumps and more than 25 bags of leaves are a special pick-up, priced from $20 based on size and quantity.
• Not part of the free bulky pickups. Each curbside household gets two free bulky pickups a year, capped at 6 to 8 cubic yards, but bulk brush and tires are excluded.
• Separate piles. If you're also setting out household bulk items, keep the brush in its own pile at least two feet away.
• Request it first. Special collections are scheduled first come, first served through the city's online request form.

One trap: the city's discarded property rule (City Ordinance Sec. 16-4) says items set at the curb require notice to the Solid Waste office. Without it, the city tags the property with a warning, and after two days without contact it makes a special pick-up and charges automatically. Put in the request before the pile goes out.

The landfill option. Greenwood Farms Landfill is owned by the City of Tyler and run by Republic Services, at 12920 FM 2767 (Old Kilgore Highway), about five miles east of Loop 323. It's open weekdays 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays 6:30 a.m. to noon. Tyler residents need a current utility bill, and state law requires loads to be covered. The landfill's number is (903) 566-5007.

Oak pruning season

Texas A&M Forest Service asks Texans not to prune or wound oaks from February through June. That's when red oaks killed by oak wilt can form fungal mats that attract sap-feeding beetles, which then carry the fungus to fresh wounds. The Forest Service also says:

• Paint every fresh oak wound, any time of year. Any kind of paint will do.
• Prune oaks in spring only for an immediate safety problem.
• Any new wound counts: pruning, construction, land clearing, mowers, string trimmers and storms.

The Forest Service says oak wilt has been confirmed in 76 Texas counties, mostly in Central, North and West Texas. We found no published confirmation for Smith County; the spring rule is still the Forest Service's advice for everyone. More on timing is on the tree trimming page.

Power lines

Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 752 bars any activity where a person, tool or piece of equipment could come within six feet of a high-voltage overhead line, unless the line's owner has arranged safety measures first. The Public Utility Commission of Texas says the wires company inspects and prunes trees that interfere with its lines, and that the PUC itself has no tree-trimming rules, so each utility sets its own practices. Call the electric utility named on your bill.

Burning brush

• Burn bans. Smith County's commissioners court ordered a 90-day ban on outdoor burning on August 18, 2026, and lifted it early on October 5 after rain. Bans follow drought, so check the county's status every time.
• State rules. The Smith County Fire Marshal's Office says all outdoor burning must comply with TCEQ's outdoor burning rules, and that brush, leaves and vegetation may be burned on the same property they came from. It enforces those rules in unincorporated parts of the county.
• Inside city limits, ask your city before burning anything.

Neighbor trees

Texas Law Help's disaster manual sums up the usual rules:

• You can trim branches of a healthy tree that hang over your property line, but only the parts on your side, and you can't kill the tree.
• You can't make your neighbor trim them.
• If a neighbor's tree is dead, diseased or dangerous, tell the neighbor in writing and keep a copy.
• A tree on the property line may be partly yours, which likely means your approval is needed before it comes down.

Nearby towns have their own rules

Whitehouse, Lindale and Bullard run their own trash and bulk pickup through their city utilities, with different schedules and limits. See Whitehouse, Lindale and Bullard for each town's details.

Ready to get a price? See tree removal, stump grinding or the Tyler tree removal cost guide.

Sources (11)

1. City of Tyler Unified Development Code, Ch. 10 Div. A: landscaping and tree preservation
2. City of Tyler: bulky items and special pick-ups (brush rules, FAQ)
3. City of Tyler: Greenwood Farms Landfill
4. Texas A&M Forest Service: prevent the spread of oak wilt this spring (2021)
5. Texas A&M Forest Service: oak wilt disease threatens Texas oaks in spring (2019)
6. Texas Health and Safety Code Ch. 752: high voltage overhead lines
7. Public Utility Commission of Texas, Customer Facts: All About Trees and Power Lines (2011, hosted by the City of Lancaster)
8. Smith County: burn ban update (order of August 18, 2026)
9. Smith County Fire Marshal: burn ban lifted October 5, 2026
10. Smith County Fire Marshal's Office: FAQ (outdoor burning)
11. Texas Law Help: Disaster manual, Section 3 (falling trees and limbs)

Last updated 2026-10-23