Remove a dangerous tree in Fayetteville splits pines in a way New Hanover does not. Section 30-5.B.7 exempts southern yellow pine from preservation credit regardless of size, and the parenthesis matters: longleaf pine is excluded from that exemption. A loblolly can be huge and still sit outside the credit rules. A longleaf cannot use that escape.[1]
- Exempt regardless of size: southern yellow pine except longleaf, plus Bradford pear, mulberry, and silver maple.
- Specimen means a healthy tree at 30 inches caliper or more, unless that exemption applies.
- Development removal of a specimen is $50 per caliper inch into the city tree fund. Existing single-family dwellings are exempt from the preservation section except required street trees.
The rule on this ground
Section 30-5.B.6 requires a tree survey to document any tree of 30 inches caliper or greater. A specimen is any healthy tree at or above that caliper, unless 30-5.B.7 exempts it. Removal is discouraged and still possible when lot size, building placement, or the drive makes preservation impractical. The payment is $50.00 per caliper inch of the removed tree into the city’s tree fund. Champion trees, and trees that would score 80 percent of the points of a North Carolina Big Tree, are not pruned or removed without the city arborist’s permission.[1]
The exemption list is the Sandhills sentence. Southern yellow pine, excluding longleaf. Bradford pear. Mulberry. Silver maple. A 36-inch loblolly does not become a specimen through the 30-inch definition, because the exemption applies regardless of size. A 30-inch longleaf does. Planting standards point the same direction from the other end: evergreen trees other than longleaf are a minimum of six feet at planting, and longleaf is a minimum of three feet. The code is used to treating longleaf as its own tree.
Existing single-family detached dwellings are exempt from the preservation standards, except for trees planted to meet the street-tree requirement in 30-5.B.4.a. Downtown land and utility work in easements and rights-of-way are the other exemptions. If you live in an existing house and the longleaf over the roof was not planted as a required street tree, the $50 inch-payment is not the bill the preservation section sends you. If you are developing the lot, it may be.
Dead and diseased trees have a separate public-safety path. The city may remove a dead or diseased tree the city arborist declares a public-health nuisance under G.S. 160A-193, after written notice, and the abatement cost can be a lien if the owner does not act. In emergencies — the section names windstorms, ice storms, floods, hurricanes, and major utility interruptions — requirements that would hamper restoring order are waived during the emergency work. Afterward the city manager is told the location and nature of emergency maintenance on public trees. That waiver is not a standing license to clear a healthy longleaf.[2] The statute itself allows a city to abate a public-health nuisance and to collect the cost as a lien.[3]
If you skip it
On a development site, removing a 30-inch longleaf without the tree-fund payment is the miss. The ordinance prints the rate. It does not print a separate “failure to pay” fine in the specimen paragraph, so this page stops at the $50 per inch. On a public tree, skipping the nuisance notice and cutting a street tree yourself collides with the city’s authority over rights-of-way. On an existing house, inventing the $50 fee would be the error in the other direction. Moore County is not given Fayetteville’s rate. The documents do not support it.
Who signs, who pays, how long
| Case | Who signs | Published amount |
|---|---|---|
| Development specimen, 30 inches or more | Applicant justifies removal; city manager uses the survey | $50 per caliper inch into the tree fund |
| Exempt pine, pear, mulberry, silver maple | Exemption in 30-5.B.7 | Not a specimen payment |
| Existing single-family house | Owner, except required street trees | Preservation section does not apply |
| Dead or diseased nuisance | City arborist declaration, then notice | Abatement cost can lien. No flat fee printed. |
Why the coastal longleaf rule is a different URL
| Point | Fayetteville | New Hanover |
|---|---|---|
| When longleaf is regulated | It is simply not exempt. Specimen status starts at 30 inches if the tree is healthy and the site is in the preservation section. | Documented at 8 inches DBH, significant at 18 inches |
| Other yellow pines | Exempt at any size | Other conifers are documented at 12 inches and significant at 24 |
| Printed payment | $50 per caliper inch, development specimens | $200 per caliper inch mitigation in the FY25-26 schedule |
The neighbor page is Coastal specimen oaks. A 36-inch live-oak variance is not a Fayetteville longleaf.
Checklist for this query
- Name the pine. Longleaf stays in the rules. Loblolly and the other southern yellow pines are the exemption.
- Say whether the lot is an existing single-family house or a development application.
- If it is development and the tree is a healthy 30-inch longleaf, budget $50 per caliper inch for the tree fund, separate from the crew.
- If the tree is dead and near a public way, ask whether the city arborist is on the nuisance path before you cut a street tree.
- Do not apply this rate in Moore County unless that county’s ordinance says so. This page has not seen that ordinance.
Fee or timeline the document prints
$50.00 per caliper inch is the development specimen payment. Preserved trees that die within 24 months of a landscape project are replaced at the credit they earned. The nuisance lien has no flat amount. Review days for a clear-cutting permit are not printed in the sections quoted here. The crew’s price to fell the tree is not in the UDO.
Questions people type before they hire
Is every pine in Fayetteville exempt?
No. UDO section 30-5.B.7 exempts southern yellow pine from preservation credit, and the same sentence excludes longleaf pine. Bradford pear, mulberry, and silver maple are also exempt regardless of size. A longleaf is not on that list.
What is a specimen tree, and what does removal cost?
Section 30-5.B.6 defines a specimen as any healthy tree with a caliper of 30 inches or more, unless it is exempt under 30-5.B.7. On a development site, removal can be allowed when the design case is made, upon payment of $50.00 per caliper inch into the city tree fund. A 30-inch longleaf is $1,500 by that arithmetic. Existing single-family detached dwellings are exempt from these preservation standards except for street trees that were planted to meet the street-tree rule.
A dead tree is threatening the sidewalk. What statute is that?
The public-tree section says the city may remove a dead or diseased tree the city arborist declares a public-health nuisance under G.S. 160A-193. The city gives written notice. If the owner does not abate it, the city may abate and the cost can be a lien. The ordinance does not print a flat dollar amount for that abatement. During windstorms, ice storms, floods, or hurricanes, requirements that would hamper restoring order are waived for the emergency work, and the city manager is notified afterward of emergency work on public trees.
Does Moore County use the $50 inch-fee?
Not in the documents this page uses. The fee is Fayetteville’s development-site specimen payment. Moore County’s text was not in the packet. New Hanover regulates longleaf too, but at 8 inches for a documented tree and 18 inches for a significant tree, with mitigation at $200 an inch. That is a different page.
Related: Counties and Coastal specimen oaks.
References
- City of Fayetteville. Unified Development Ordinance sections 30-5.B.6 and 30-5.B.7, specimen trees at 30 inches, $50 per caliper inch, and the longleaf exclusion from the pine exemption. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. Fayetteville UDO.
- City of Fayetteville. Code section on public trees, dead or diseased nuisance procedure, and the emergency waiver. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. public trees.
- North Carolina General Assembly. “G.S. 160A-193, Abatement of public health nuisances.” Accessed 12 Oct 2026. ncleg.gov.
- City of Fayetteville. “30-2.C.9, Clear-Cutting Permit,” standards before clear-cutting that would affect healthy trees. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. clear-cutting standards.