Remove a dangerous tree in Raleigh starts with a definition, not a diameter borrowed from Charlotte. UDO Chapter 12 says a tree is hazardous only when a certified arborist finds all four conditions: a structural defect predisposing the entire tree, or at least one-fifth of the crown, to failure; a trunk of at least 10 inches DBH or a failing limb of at least 8 inches; a failure potential of medium or greater as described in the ISA photographic guide to hazard trees, which an accepted practice cannot remedy; and a target underneath or beside the tree.[1]
- All four tests are required. A lean with no target fails the definition.
- A declared ice storm, hurricane, or tornado opens a one-year minor-removal window for unsafe trees, with named exceptions.
- Priority conservation trees certified hazardous are replaced with 10 caliper inches of shade trees.
The rule on this ground
Inside a designated tree conservation area, Sec. 9.1.6 forbids tree-disturbing activity except as the section lists. A permit can issue when a certified arborist, registered forester, or licensed landscape architect certifies in writing that the tree is unsafe or unhealthy. If the tree died of natural causes and is replaced under the article, the certification is not required. When a priority-area tree under Sec. 9.1.4.B.1.c or 9.1.4.B.1.d comes out after that hazardous, unhealthy, or dead certification, the owner installs 10 caliper inches of new shade trees, minimum 2 caliper inches each, inside the recorded conservation area.[2]
The minor-removal definition is the ice-storm sentence people actually search. Unsafe trees removed within one year after a disaster declared by the state or the City of Raleigh, and the code names an ice storm, a hurricane, or a tornado, can qualify. The same definition excludes a champion tree and trees protected in a resource management district or a natural protective yard. A second minor path allows fewer than 16 trees of 3 inches DBH or more in twelve months, with extra limits on 10-inch trees in buffers. That second path is a count, not a hazard finding. Do not use it to clear a stand.[1]
Unlawful disturbance of a permanently undisturbed primary tree conservation area carries a civil penalty of at least $1,000 plus 35 cents per square foot, and the area is replanted at twice the usual 10-gallon shade-tree count. Removing a required sign is $100 per sign. Those penalties are for disturbing a protected area. They are not a fee schedule for a lawful hazard removal, and Raleigh’s sections we read do not publish a separate dollar fee for the hazard certification itself.
If you skip it
Cutting inside a recorded conservation area without the permit leaves you in the replacement rules and, if the area was marked permanently undisturbed, in the $1,000-plus penalty. Waiting past the one-year disaster window means the minor-removal shortcut is gone and the ordinary conservation rules apply again. The code does not publish a review duration for the conservation permit, so this page will not guess a number of days.
Marcus runs facilities for a small apartment row in Raleigh. An ice storm, declared by the city, sheared a third of a pine onto the parking lot. The pine’s trunk is over 10 inches, the remaining leader has a split, and cars park under it. He is inside the four-part test and inside the one-year minor-removal window, provided the tree is not a champion and is not in a resource management district or a natural protective yard. If the same pine stands in a recorded priority conservation area, he still replaces it with 10 caliper inches of shade trees. A neighbor in Durham with an addition on a house is reading a different ordinance.
Who signs, who pays, how long
| Step | Who signs | What is published |
|---|---|---|
| Call it hazardous | Certified arborist | All four tests in Chapter 12. No separate certification fee printed in that definition. |
| Conservation-area permit | Arborist, forester, or landscape architect, then the city | Written certification. Natural death can skip certification if replacement is made. |
| Priority-area replacement | Property owner | 10 caliper inches of shade trees, minimum 2 inches each, inside the recorded area. |
| Declared disaster | State or City of Raleigh declaration | One year for unsafe trees as a minor removal, with the champion and buffer exceptions. |
Why Durham is not a copy of this page
| Question | Raleigh | Durham |
|---|---|---|
| Hazard sentence | Four required findings, including a target | Coverage chapter does not restate those four findings |
| Existing house | Conservation areas can still bind a recorded lot | Additions to existing residential structures, except multiplexes and apartments, are exempt from tree coverage |
| Root zone | Critical root zone is used in the disturbing-activity definition | Protection zone is the greater of 6 feet or 1 foot per inch DBH |
Orange County and Chapel Hill are in the same metro search. This page does not paste a Chapel Hill fee, because the documents that lock the URL are Raleigh’s UDO and Durham’s coverage chapter. If your trunk is inside Chapel Hill’s town limits, ask that town for its own ordinance before you use Raleigh’s one-year clock. The neighbor with a different published trigger is Triad danger trees, where Greensboro defines danger as a fall into a utility line and leaves existing single-family yards outside the conservation ordinance.
Checklist for this query
- Name the jurisdiction: Raleigh city, a Wake County lot outside the city, or Durham.
- Have a certified arborist walk the four tests before you call the tree hazardous.
- Photograph the target. A defect over empty woods is not the Chapter 12 definition.
- If you are inside a year of a declared ice storm, hurricane, or tornado, write down the declaration date.
- If the tree is in a priority conservation area, plan on 10 caliper inches of replacement shade trees.
Fee or timeline the document prints
The dollars Raleigh prints in the sections cited here are the disturbance penalty of at least $1,000 plus $0.35 per square foot, and $100 per missing sign. There is no published fee, in those sections, for a lawful hazardous-tree certification. There is no published count of review days. The one-year disaster window is the timeline the code does print. Crew prices are not in the UDO.
Questions people type before they hire
What does Raleigh call a hazardous tree?
UDO Chapter 12 requires every item: a structural defect that predisposes the whole tree, or at least one-fifth of the crown, to failure; a trunk of at least 10 inches DBH or a limb of at least 8 inches; a failure potential of medium or greater in the ISA photographic guide that pruning will not fix; and a target such as a person, a vehicle, a street, a sidewalk, or a building. A certified arborist makes that call.
An ice storm just dropped limbs. Is that a permit?
Unsafe trees removed within one year after a natural disaster declared by the State of North Carolina or the City of Raleigh — the code names an ice storm, a hurricane, or a tornado — can be a minor tree removal activity. Champion trees and trees in a resource management district or a natural protective yard are carved out of that minor-activity definition. The one-year clock is not a permanent waiver.
What do I replant if the tree sat in a conservation area?
Sec. 9.1.6 says a conservation permit can issue when a certified arborist, a registered forester, or a licensed landscape architect certifies the tree unsafe or unhealthy. No certification is required if you can show the tree died of natural causes and you replace it. For certain priority areas, a hazardous, unhealthy, or dead tree is replaced with 10 caliper inches of new shade trees, each at least 2 caliper inches, inside the recorded conservation area.
Does Durham use the same four tests?
Durham’s tree-coverage chapter does not copy Raleigh’s four-part sentence. Additions to existing residential structures, other than multiplexes and apartments, are exempt from Durham tree-coverage requirements. A tree protection zone there is the greater of a six-foot radius or one foot per inch of DBH. Major specimen trees are defined in Sec. 17.3, which the coverage chapter cites without restating a diameter, so this page does not invent one.
Related: Counties and Triad danger trees.
References
- City of Raleigh. “Unified Development Ordinance, Chapter 12,” definitions of Hazardous Tree and Minor Tree Removal Activity. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. udo.raleighnc.gov.
- City of Raleigh. “UDO Sec. 9.1.6, Permitted Tree Disturbing Activities,” certification and the 10-caliper-inch replacement. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. Sec. 9.1.6.
- City of Durham. “UDO 8.3, Tree Protection and Tree Coverage,” residential-addition exemption and tree protection zone. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. udo.durhamnc.gov.
- City of Raleigh. “UDO Sec. 9.1.4,” civil penalty for unlawful disturbance of a permanently undisturbed primary tree conservation area. Accessed 12 Oct 2026. Sec. 9.1.4.