The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of Austin resident Michael Petrick, alleging the City of Austin’s tree preservation ordinance unconstitutionally infringes on private property rights.
The city issued an $8,800 penalty after Petrick trimmed two protected trees on his property without a permit.
“In Texas, the maximum fee for first-degree murder is $10,000,” said TPPF Attorney Laura Beth Latimer. “Austin is trying to charge our client nearly that much for trimming his own trees. No wonder Austin’s cost of living is out of control.”
According to the lawsuit, Petrick bought his house in August 2025 in preparation for the birth of his first child. After noticing a tree with a split trunk that he believed posed a falling hazard and two overgrown trees, he hired a tree-trimming company to remove the split trunk tree and trim the other two.
The city determined the split trunk tree was too small to trigger mitigation but concluded the other two trees had been over-pruned and treated them as if they had been removed.
“Trimming the trees did not harm anyone,” the lawsuit reads. “To the contrary, the trimming reduced risks to both neighbors and power lines. Nor did the trimming meaningfully harm the trees. They remain standing with leafy green canopies to this day.”
Under chapter 25-8 of Austin Land Development Code and the Environmental Criteria Manual, Petrick must either plant 44 caliper-inches of replacement trees on his 0.28-acre lot—roughly equivalent to 15 trees each measuring 13-15 feet tall—or pay $8,800 in mitigation fees.
“This is exactly the sort of thing that makes housing too expensive in Austin,” said TPPF Director of Litigation Chance Weldon. “It shouldn’t cost you thousands of dollars every time you engage in harmless yard maintenance.”
Petrick is claiming the city ordinance is an unconstitutional infringement on his private property rights and is in violation of the 5th and 14th Amendments.
“Mr. Petrick—not the City—owns the trees in his yard,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit further argues the ordinance imposes blanket requirements rather than conducting an individualized assessment of harm, rendering it “unconstitutional on its face.”
According to the lawsuit, court precedent, such as Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994), requires land-use permitting conditions to be proportional to the government’s interest and supported by an individualized and quantifiable determination of harm.
Petrick argues that mitigation requirements and the $8,800 fee are not proportional to the harm caused by trimming his trees.
According to the lawsuit, there is “no evidence that trimming the trees has negatively affected Mr. Petrick’s neighbors, or the health, safety, or environment of the City or its residents” and has instead “benefited neighbors by reducing the risk of falling limbs or interference with power lines.”
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.
