Permit to Injure a Protected Tree for a Deck, Pool, or Driveway in Toronto

If you’re planning a deck, pool, or driveway near a mature tree on your Toronto property, there’s a good chance a permit to injure stands between you and your building permit. Or maybe you’ve already received a city notice about work near a protected tree and you’re trying to figure out what happens next. Either way, you’re not necessarily removing the tree. The construction work will reach into the area the city has defined as the tree’s protected zone, and that alone triggers an authorization requirement under Chapter 813 of Toronto’s Municipal Code.

This post focuses on the construction scenario. For a broader breakdown of when you’d need a removal permit versus an injury permit, and when a single project might need both, see permit to injure vs. tree removal.

The Tree Protection Zone Is What Triggers the Permit

Each protected private tree has a Tree Protection Zone (TPZ) around it, calculated from the trunk diameter. Any construction activity that penetrates that zone requires a permit to injure, even if the tree won’t be removed and you plan for it to survive the project intact.

The bylaw covers any tree with a trunk diameter of 30 cm or more, measured at 1.4 metres above grade (breast height). That measurement threshold has not changed and remains in force as of 2026. If a neighbour’s large oak has roots that extend toward your side of the fence, your project may still be in scope if the excavation reaches the TPZ.

Every Common Backyard Project Can Trip the Rule

Toronto’s “When to Apply” page lists construction activities that require a permit to injure. The relevant ones for residential backyard work:

• building, demolishing, or replacing decks, terraces, patios, and raised gardens
• installing or replacing driveways, parking pads, sidewalks, and walkways
• pool installation
• retaining walls and sheds
• any other permanent or temporary structure

The concern isn’t the structure itself. It’s whether the footprint, the excavation, the equipment access, or the staging area will cross into a TPZ. A floating deck on footings can require an injury permit. So can a gravel driveway. The structure doesn’t need to touch the trunk. The bylaw’s exact language is: “If any construction work on site, including access or storage, will impact a TPZ, you need to apply for a permit.”

How to Calculate the TPZ for Your Tree

To measure trunk diameter (DBH): wrap a flexible tape around the trunk at 1.4 metres above the ground, then divide the circumference by 3.14.

Toronto’s TPZ table for private property trees:

A 45 cm tree has a minimum 3.0 m TPZ radius; Urban Forestry can require a larger zone depending on site conditions. A 75 cm maple has a minimum 4.8 m radius. On a standard Toronto lot, that can extend well into a rear yard or toward a proposed pool excavation. For trees over 100 cm, the math is proportional: a 110 cm trunk has a minimum TPZ of 6.6 m.

One additional note on street trees: any city-owned tree in the boulevard or front yard strip is protected at any size. No 30 cm threshold applies. If you’re not sure whether a tree near your curb belongs to the city, call 311 before you plan access routes or material staging near it.

What the Bylaw Counts as Injury

Any of these inside the protected zone needs the permit, even the temporary stuff:

• excavating, digging, trenching, tunneling, scraping, or flattening soil within the TPZ
• changing the surface level or dumping fill inside the zone
• cutting, breaking, tearing, crushing, or exposing the tree’s roots
• storing materials, equipment, soil, or debris in the TPZ
• driving vehicles or heavy equipment over the root zone
• applying substances near the tree, including concrete sluice, gas, oil, paint, or pool water and backwash
• excessive canopy removal or improper pruning

That last item catches pool installations where a contractor needs to trim branches for equipment access. The pruning requires authorization under the same permit. The tree doesn’t have to die for an injury to be prohibited.

What the Permit Application Requires

The application form is called “Application to Injure or Remove Trees” (form 41-0064). Construction injury applications use the same form as removal applications; the supporting documents differ.

For a construction injury application, you need:

• application fee
• arborist report covering the tree’s species, size, location, condition, structural integrity, and health, plus details of the proposed work and proposed protection measures
• tree protection plan, a separate document prepared by or in consultation with an arborist, showing protection details plotted to scale with minimum distances and hoarding locations labeled
• site plan to scale showing all trees 30 cm or larger on your property and on adjacent properties within 6 metres, numbered to match the arborist report, with TPZs plotted and minimum distances labeled
• elevations showing front, side, and rear views of the proposed construction, including the depth and nature of any excavation for footings, supporting piers, or basements
• photos

The arborist report and the tree protection plan are not self-prepared. The city requires them from a certified arborist, and that is the piece most homeowners hand off.

First floor plan, basement plan, and construction details may also be required depending on the scope of the work.

Applications are reviewed by Tree Protection and Plan Review (TPPR) district offices. The city does not publish a standard processing timeline. Apply early. Submit the application before you lock in contractor dates or book the excavation, because work cannot start until the permit is approved and the tree protection hoarding is up.

Once a permit is approved, you sign an Undertaking and Release (a written commitment to follow every permit condition and protect the tree), install tree protection hoarding per the approved plan before any work begins, and post the permit on site one day before work starts. Tree protection fencing must stay in place through the entire project. The question of when it can come down is covered separately in the tree protection fencing timing post. If your permit includes a replanting condition and on-site planting isn’t feasible, cash-in-lieu runs $583 per tree.

The Fee, and What Bypassing the Process Actually Costs

For construction work that affects a private tree, the application fee is $425.75 per tree (2025 fee schedule). If the affected tree is a boundary or neighbour tree (trunk on or crossing the property line, or roots and canopy extending onto your property from next door), the fee is $891.30 per tree. These fees are non-refundable.

The contravention side is a different scale. Work that injures a protected tree without a permit carries a minimum fine of $500 per tree and a maximum of $100,000 per tree. Where the city can show financial benefit from the unauthorized activity, an additional special fine of $100,000 applies. Contravention inspection fees are added on top and go to your property tax roll if unpaid within 90 days of the Order to Comply.

A project that skips the permit process to save time can become a very expensive problem.

One other thing to factor in for 2026: starting September 1, 2026, a new Distinctive Tree category takes effect for healthy private trees over 61 cm DBH. A tree’s distinctive status becomes a consideration during permit review. If your project involves a large mature tree, that’s worth accounting for now rather than at the application stage.

Getting Your Construction Project Done Right

Our team prepares construction arborist reports for Toronto permit-to-injure applications, including both the arborist report and the tree protection plan the city requires. We review each project before the site visit so you know exactly what the application covers and whether your project footprint needs any adjustment to stay within permit conditions.

If your project is a pool, see our pool permit arborist reports page for how Toronto and other GTA cities treat pool excavation and equipment access differently from other construction, plus a desktop feasibility check for the quoting stage.

Contact us with your site address and the nature of your project.