Kirkland tree removal rules, explained

Kirkland’s tree rules sit in Kirkland Zoning Code Chapter 95, Tree Management and Required Landscaping. The city’s goal is a 40% tree canopy. Its last assessment found canopy had slipped from 40% in 2010 to about 38% in 2021, a loss of more than 300 acres, mostly on single-family lots. That is why the code counts trees in your yard, not just on construction sites.

Two kinds of tree

Kirkland’s Landmark threshold is lower than Redmond’s (over 30”) and close to Bellevue’s (24”), so many 60-year-old Douglas firs in Kirkland are already Landmarks.

Path 1: the free Tree Removal Notification

For healthy regulated trees on developed lots. Free, filed online at mybuildingpermit.com before removal. It only works when all of these are true:

• the 12-month allowance is not used up (2, 3 or 4 trees by lot size)
• the lot keeps its minimum number of regulated trees afterwards
• the tree is under 26” (not a Landmark) and is not a hedge
• no mapped critical area or buffer, no shoreline setback, not in the Holmes Point Overlay
• no Tree Preservation or Grove Covenant
• no new house built on the lot in the past 5 years
• the tree is not required landscaping from an earlier development

Path 2: the Tree Removal Permit

Everything else. The fee is $600 plus a 3.5% mybuildingpermit.com surcharge, and the tree must meet the city’s hazard or nuisance criteria, unless it is a Landmark within the yearly Landmark allowance. You need:

1. An arborist report from a Qualified Professional Arborist (see what the city accepts)
2. A replanting plan
3. The fee

The city arborist reviews the file, inspects the tree and emails a decision within 15 business days.

Path 3: emergencies

A tree posing an imminent risk to life or property can come down first. Within 7 days, submit a Private Tree Removal Notification with evidence: photos or an arborist report. If the Planning Official decides the emergency was not real, fines under KMC 1.12.100 can follow. Emergency removal explains what to photograph.

The development hold

This is the rule that catches people. Kirkland won’t accept new development permits for 12 months after healthy regulated trees are removed, 24 months for Landmark trees, unless the trees were hazard or nuisance trees. Building additions under 50% of the existing footprint may still be accepted. If you might build, add on or short-plat within two years, plan the trees with the project instead. See tree retention plans.

Pruning rules

• No permit for normal pruning on private property.
• Topping is prohibited.
• Removing more than 25% of the live canopy may be treated as removal.
• Trees in critical areas, the shoreline setback, the Holmes Point Overlay or under covenants or an NGPE need written permission before pruning.

Big wooded properties

Properties of 25,000 sq ft or more that are significantly wooded can use a Forest Stewardship Plan permit instead of tree-by-tree requests: a site plan, reforestation plan and maintenance plan for managing the stand as a whole. Useful on large Bridle Trails and Finn Hill lots.