Permits & Ordinances
A plain-English guide to Marietta’s tree rules and the very different rules in the cities around it — checked against each city’s own pages and ordinances on September 28, 2026.
Start Here
Inside the City of Marietta, usually no — a homeowner on a typical single-family lot is exempt from the city’s tree regulations. Cross a city line and the answer flips: Smyrna wants a permit for any healthy tree 24 inches or bigger, Kennesaw wants a $25 permit before you cut anything, Woodstock permits every tree over 3 inches including dead ones, and Acworth and unincorporated Cobb mostly leave existing homes alone.
Cobb County has more city boundaries than most people realize — Vinings, Cumberland and East Cobb aren’t cities at all — so the first question is always which jurisdiction your address is actually in. Below is what each one publishes. Rules change (Marietta amended its section in April 2025, Acworth in August 2025), so treat this as a map, not a ruling, and confirm with the city before a saw starts. Every Marietta-area estimate is checked against the rules in force that week.
City of Marietta
Marietta regulates trees through Division 712.08 of its Zoning Ordinance, “Tree Protection and Landscaping,” last amended in April 2025. The important line for homeowners is the exemption: the regulations don’t apply to a single residential lot with one house on it (up to two dwelling units), with two exceptions — lots inside the Residential Infill Development Overlay District, and subdivisions built under a tree plan the City Council approved. If neither applies to you, the ordinance doesn’t require a permit to take down a tree in your own yard.
When the rules do apply — an infill-overlay lot, a subdivision with an approved tree plan, or any new construction or land disturbance — trees can’t be removed without prior authorization from the Department of Development Services. Dead, dying, diseased or hazardous trees on those properties are removed after a “Notification of Tree Removal” form is filed and City staff verify the condition, with a decision due within 10 business days. The one carve-out is a tree brought down by sudden weather that creates an immediate hazard.
Specimen trees. For properties the rules cover, Marietta defines a specimen tree by size and condition: large hardwoods 18 in. DBH and up, large softwoods 24 in. and up, understory trees 9 in. and up, measured 4½ feet above the ground, in sound condition with a life expectancy over 15 years. Removed trees on covered sites are replaced with trees of equal size (capped at 3-in. caliper) or a payment to the City’s Tree Replacement Fund at the rate in the city fee schedule.
If you skip a required step. The ordinance works by written notice and a 10-day correction period; failing to correct is a violation of the section.
Two honest caveats. We couldn’t confirm which streets fall in the Residential Infill Overlay from the published ordinance, and several contractor websites claim Marietta homeowners “must” file the notification form for every tree — the ordinance text ties that form to properties the rules cover, not to exempt lots. A two-minute call to Development Services settles it for your address, and that’s what we do before scheduling.
Official pages: mariettaga.gov (Development Services; Zoning Ordinance Division 712.08, updated April 2025).
Verified against the ordinance text on September 28, 2026.
Vinings, Cumberland, East Cobb & the county's unincorporated areas
Cobb County’s tree rules live in Chapter 50, Article VI of the county code, “Tree Preservation and Replacement,” and they apply to activity that requires a land disturbance permit — grading, clearing for construction, and the like. There is no separate homeowner tree-removal permit in the county code: taking down a tree in an existing yard, outside a stream buffer or floodplain and not protected by a zoning condition or plat, doesn’t trigger the article.
Clearing at a scale that needs a land disturbance permit does, and the county’s penalty for violating the article is a civil penalty of at least $1,000 per day plus replacement. The county’s 2025 code amendments, approved in November 2025, didn’t change this article. Mableton took over its own zoning and code enforcement from the county on March 3, 2025 and lists its own tree ordinance; we couldn’t retrieve the text, so if you’re in Mableton, call Mableton Community Development.
Official pages: cobbcounty.gov (Site Plan Review) and the county code on Municode, Chapter 50 Article VI. Verified September 28, 2026.
Cobb, Cherokee & Paulding
| City | Permit for a healthy tree on a single-family lot? | What counts as protected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smyrna | Yes, for any living tree 24 in. DBH or larger, even with no construction. | Specimen: overstory (oak, hickory, maple, poplar, sweetgum…) 24 in.; pines 36 in.; conifers 20 in.; small trees (dogwood, redbud, sourwood, cherry) 10 in. | Trees under 24 in. on single-family lots are exempt; so is any tree that’s a danger to life or property. Replant a 2-in. tree or pay $400 to the tree bank; remove without a permit and it’s double — two trees or $800. Permit fee per the city fee schedule. Ordinance amended August 2023. |
| Kennesaw | Yes — a Tree Cutting Permit from Public Works before any cutting. | The city form lists no size exemption and no dead-tree exemption. | $25, card only, permit good for six months; historic-district trees also need HPC approval and an extra $50. Form dated May 2024. The city form doesn’t publish thresholds — call Public Works. |
| Acworth | No, for an existing home. | Specimen (development sites): most hardwoods 24 in., tulip poplar / sweetgum / river birch / silver maple 30 in., holly / dogwood / redbud 10 in. | The tree ordinance applies to activity needing a land-development or building permit and exempts existing single-family and duplex lots unless the footprint expands. Dead or hazardous trees exempt on an arborist’s or forester’s recommendation. Amended August 2025. |
| Powder Springs | No, for fewer than 10 trees. | In Powder Springs a removed specimen tree is replaced at twice its canopy, and the city asks for an arborist letter first. | Ten trees or more requires a $150 land disturbance permit. Zoning-required trees, platted landscaping, stream buffers and floodplains are off-limits. Dead and hazard trees exempt. Review takes 5–10 business days. |
| Austell | No homeowner tree permit found. | — | Austell’s $200 clearing and grading permit and its land disturbance permit cover construction and work within 200 ft of a perennial stream. |
| Woodstock (Cherokee County) | Yes — any tree over 3 in. caliper, dead or alive. | Specimen: most hardwoods 24 in.; poplar, sweetgum, river birch, silver maple and pine 30 in.; holly, dogwood, redbud 10 in. | Permits are free; up to five non-specimen trees per year on a residential lot. Cutting without a permit: $150 per inch, $175 per inch for specimen trees. |
| Dallas / Hiram (Paulding County) | No private-lot permit found in either city code. | Dallas regulates street and park trees only. | We couldn’t verify Paulding County’s own tree rules for Dallas or Hiram, so check with the county before clearing. |
When a Cobb, Cherokee or Paulding address is in doubt, that city’s community development or public works office has the answer, and the estimate visit is when we ask it.
Our Part
Measure around the trunk 4½ feet up from the ground, the height Marietta's ordinance uses, and divide that number by 3.14. A trunk that’s 75 inches around is 24 inches DBH — the permit line in Smyrna.
Often, yes. Covenants in a Marietta or East Cobb subdivision sit apart from any city or county ordinance and can be stricter. Check both.
No. A tree that’s already down or actively threatening a structure is the hazard exemption in every jurisdiction listed here except Woodstock, which still wants its free permit filed. Get it off the house first, photograph everything, and tell the city or Cobb County afterward wherever they ask for notice.
The free on-site estimate includes a check of the current rules for your Marietta-area address.
Type a Cobb, Cherokee or Paulding County town or ZIP code to see whether your street is on the Marietta route.