"We hear from constituents whenever there's a clear cut, especially in a residential area, in part because it's so visible," Sandy Springs Councilmember Andrew Chinsky said at an April city council work session on the city's latest tree canopy study, as reported by Appen Media. "To see the data is very helpful to actually understand what's going on, rather than relying on our eyes, and maybe our lying eyes."
He was reacting to a number that surprised even the people who track it closely. Sandy Springs' citywide tree canopy actually grew slightly between 2023 and 2025, from 54.5 percent to 56.3 percent of the city's 13,980 acres, according to a GIS study the city's Urban Forestry division presented that spring. Council members were pleased, then skeptical. Trees are still coming down all over the city. So how does the canopy grow?
The answer matters if you're buying a wooded lot in Sandy Springs, selling one with mature trees on it, or planning a renovation that touches the yard. It's not really about how many trees are standing on a property. It's about what the removal is for. Sandy Springs treats a dead pine falling in a backyard completely differently from the same pine coming down to make room for a pool addition, and the gap between those two paths is where buyers and renovators get caught.
Two Paths, Two Very Different Bills
If a tree on your property is dead, dying, or hazardous, or if it's simply below the size threshold, the city has requirements for taking it down. The City of Sandy Springs' tree-removal guidance requires a Tree Removal Permit for any hardwood or pine 18 inches in diameter at breast height or larger, and any dogwood or redbud 10 inches DBH or larger. Trees inside the Chattahoochee River Corridor, defined as anything within 2,000 feet of the riverbank, or within a 75-foot stream buffer, are protected regardless of size or species, under the City of Sandy Springs' tree-removal guidance and its natural-resource guidance. For a standalone removal like this, the paperwork is straightforward: photos, a drawing showing the tree's location, and a description of its condition. No fee is attached unless the removal drops the property below the city's minimum canopy coverage, in which case a $1,200 payment into the city's Tree Fund is required for each Protected Tree removed, along with a replacement planting.
The second path is the one that catches people mid-renovation. If tree removal is tied to construction activity, grading, a pool installation, a patio, an addition, anything that disturbs the ground, the city doesn't let you file a simple removal permit at all. You have to submit a full Tree Conservation Plan alongside your construction documents, before any impact occurs, and it has to comply with the city's Tree Conservation Ordinance. That plan gets evaluated against canopy targets for the whole property, not just the trees you want gone. If your project pushes coverage below the minimum, you're back to the Tree Fund payment and mandatory replanting, except now those costs are baked into a construction timeline instead of a weekend cleanup.
Two identical lots with identical trees can carry completely different price tags depending on why the trees are coming down. A buyer clearing a dead pine for firewood pays nothing. A buyer clearing the same size pine to make room for a garage addition is now inside a formal review process, on a permit clock that has no fixed timeline. The city's own building permit guidance is blunt about this: approval times depend on project complexity, and there's no guaranteed turnaround.
The Corridor That Lost Its Canopy, Twice
The GIS study that prompted Chinsky's comment didn't just report a citywide number. It broke out specific stretches of the city, and one corridor tells the more useful story for anyone evaluating a lot near a major road project. Along Mount Vernon Highway to the eastern city limits, and along the Glenridge Connector to Pitts Road, tree cover measured 106 acres in 2017. By 2021 that had fallen to 22 acres. In 2023 it dipped again, to 20 acres. By 2025 it had only recovered to 27 acres.
That collapse tracks almost exactly with the reconstruction of the I-285 and Ga. 400 interchange, plus the construction of mixed-use projects like Hillcrest, adjacent to City Springs, and Solis Sandy Springs near the MARTA station. None of that canopy loss came from single-family homeowners cutting down backyard trees. It came from a regional infrastructure project and large-scale development that happened to sit in the same corridor. If you're evaluating a residential lot near Mount Vernon Highway or Pitts Road and you notice thin tree cover on a map or aerial photo, that thinness is telling you about highway construction history, not about how your future neighbors treat their yards.
The city's Urban Forester, Willie Park, added a nuance worth carrying into any lot evaluation. He told the council that during major developments, the trees typically removed first are skinny "edge" trees that don't contribute much canopy weight on their own. Once those come down, the hardwoods behind them get more light and start to fill in the gap. A canopy dip in a recent study doesn't necessarily mean the largest, most valuable specimen trees on a given block are gone. It can mean the opposite: thinning at the margins that lets bigger trees stretch out.
What a "Mature Canopy" Listing Might Actually Mean
Here's the part that matters most if you're buying a home that was recently renovated or rebuilt rather than a raw lot. Environment Sandy Springs says Sandy Springs' own tree ordinance sets a goal that 35 percent of the land area on a redeveloped property should be covered by tree canopy. But the ordinance also lets a developer pay into the Tree Fund instead of physically replanting, which means the 35 percent target is aspirational rather than enforced tree-by-tree.
Environment Sandy Springs, a local advocacy group that has pushed the city to review the ordinance, has argued that the city has never actually gone back and measured whether redeveloped properties hit that 35 percent target after construction wraps. Their read is that most don't come close, because the fund-payment option makes it easy to satisfy the letter of the rule with a check rather than a shovel.
For a buyer, this means the landscaping you see listed as a selling point on a recently rebuilt home may be newly planted saplings standing in for mature trees that were cleared during construction and never fully replaced on site. If tree canopy and shade are part of why you're drawn to a property, ask when the current trees were planted and whether the lot went through a Tree Conservation Plan process during any recent construction. That's a very different question than simply counting trunks in the yard.
Where Neighbors Actually Push Back
Tree canopy also shows up as a recurring flashpoint in Sandy Springs rezoning fights, though it's rarely the only issue on the table. In May, a rezoning to add two new homes near Whitner Drive and Mount Vernon Highway drew opposition from three homeowners near Whitner Drive who cited tree canopy loss alongside concerns about density, stormwater runoff, and construction impacts. Chinsky, who represents Whitner Drive in District 6, didn't see it as a major shift. "I don't think that the addition of net two homes facing Whitner is going to materially change the traffic situation," he said at the hearing, as reported by Rough Draft Atlanta; the report noted that the driveway placement was designed to stay away from Mount Vernon Highway.
A larger proposal that same month, a 21-home subdivision at Spalding Drive and Pitts Road near the Dunwoody border, passed without any opposition at its public hearing, even though it required shifting the minimum lot size from one acre down to 9,000 square feet. Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods President Ronda Smith spoke favorably about the project, and one of the developers, Chris Protos, framed the smaller lots as a way to keep housing attainable in a city where he said he can no longer afford to live himself.
The pattern across both hearings is that tree canopy gets raised as a concern almost every time infill housing comes up, but it rarely stops a project on its own. If you're buying next to a vacant or underused parcel in Sandy Springs, expect canopy loss to be part of the neighborhood conversation if that parcel gets rezoned. Expect it to be one factor among several, not the deciding one.
Before You Close, Ask the Right Question
If you're buying a wooded lot with plans to build or add on, get a sense of your Tree Conservation Plan exposure before you're under contract, not after. A quick call to the city's Arborist Division can tell you whether the trees you'd need to clear fall under Protected or Landmark status, which determines whether you're looking at standard replacement or the steeper 150 percent replacement required for Landmark trees, according to GoTreeQuotes.
If you're selling a home with mature trees and you're tempted to clear some before listing to improve curb appeal or opening sightlines, check the permit requirement first. A removal that seems cosmetic can still trigger the canopy calculation if it pushes the lot below minimum coverage.
If you're renovating in place, build the Tree Fund payment and replanting cost into your contingency budget the same way you'd budget for a permit delay on any other trade. It's a predictable cost once you know it's coming. It's an unpleasant surprise if you find out about it after your contractor has already priced the job.
FAQ
What should I know about removing a dead tree in Sandy Springs? The city has requirements for removing a dead tree.
What's the difference between a Tree Removal Permit and a Tree Conservation Plan? A Tree Removal Permit covers a standalone removal not tied to construction. A Tree Conservation Plan is required whenever removal is connected to grading, an addition, a pool, or any other construction activity, and it has to be submitted with your construction documents before any tree impact occurs.
Does the ordinance apply to trees on a lot I'm about to build a new home on? Yes. New construction triggers the same Tree Conservation Plan requirement as a renovation, and the review happens against the whole property's canopy targets, not just the footprint of the new structure.
Is the $1,200 Tree Fund payment the only cost if I remove a Protected Tree? No. The payment applies per Protected Tree removed when canopy falls below the minimum, and it comes with a separate requirement to plant a replacement tree. Landmark trees carry a steeper 150 percent canopy replacement standard.
Sandy Springs' tree rules reward the buyer and seller who ask about intent, not just inventory. If you're weighing a wooded lot, a renovation, or a listing where mature trees are part of the pitch, the TJS Team can walk through what a property's tree canopy actually means for your timeline and budget before you're locked into a contract. Request a personalized market and investment consult and get the numbers that matter before you make an offer.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
