"It dramatically affected our build," a buyer told the Star Tribune in December 2024. "All that money came from, ironically, our landscape budget."

A couple bought a sloped, heavily wooded residential lot in Edina because the market for existing homes was tight. Then the city asked them to put $95,000 in escrow until they could show that replacement trees had been planted and had survived. One buyer said no one told her about the requirements while she was buying the lot, and that future buyers should get stronger protections.

Edina has since rewritten that ordinance. The basic setup is the same, though. In Edina, the cost of a property's mature trees shows up when you apply for a permit, which usually happens after closing. On a teardown or a wooded lot, the tree count is part of the price, even though the listing never mentions it.

The bill arrives with the permit

Ordinance 2026-04 was passed on March 3, 2026, and took effect when it was published on March 12. It requires an approved tree protection plan before the city will issue a grading permit, a demolition permit, a subdivision approval, or a building permit for a new home, an addition, a garage, a deck or a pool. The permit cannot be issued until city forestry staff approve the plan and the financial security has been deposited.

That list covers more than teardowns. A buyer who plans to add a pool or a garage to an existing Edina home goes through the same process. At the February 17 first reading, Councilmember James Pierce voted no, saying that grouping remodels with new construction "feels like it disadvantages others in the community."

The size thresholds are low. Apart from species the code exempts, a protected tree is a healthy, structurally sound deciduous tree at least five inches in diameter at breast height, or a conifer at least 15 feet tall. A heritage tree is a deciduous tree 30 inches or more in diameter, or a conifer 30 feet or taller. On a mature lot in the Country Club District or Morningside, that can describe most of the canopy.

Clearing the lot first does not reset the count

This is the clause most likely to catch a buyer off guard. The required tree inventory has to list every tree now on the property, healthy or not. It also has to list the species and former location of every tree removed in the year before the application, along with the reason it came down. Protected and heritage trees removed during that year are subject to the same replacement requirements as trees removed during construction.

The ordinance applies only when someone pulls a permit. When Councilmember Kate Agnew asked about that limit, Parks & Recreation Director Perry Vetter confirmed, as Hometown Source reported, that a resident who isn't pulling a permit is free to remove trees. So an owner can legally clear a yard before listing. Under section 30-210(3), though, if the buyer applies for a demolition or building permit within a year, those trees appear in the buyer's inventory and count toward the buyer's replacement requirement.

A freshly cleared lot can look like a lot without a tree problem. It may simply be a lot whose tree problem hasn't come due yet. City Attorney David Kendall described the permit trigger as a deliberate choice aimed at "the common problems that Edina was experiencing with people removing a lot of their trees from their lots and redevelopment situations."

What the 2026 rewrite changed, and what it kept

The rewrite came out of a legal fight. Housing First Minnesota sent the city a demand letter in October 2024 and sued in Hennepin County District Court on August 25, 2025. According to the group, city records showed Edina had collected and kept nearly $1 million under its tree escrow program. The council repealed and replaced the ordinance before a summary judgment hearing took place, and Housing First withdrew its complaint. CEO James Vagle said the group still has concerns and "will not hesitate to return to court" if the new ordinance is abused.

The replacement ratios stayed the same.

The off-site option is new. If a lot can't hold all the replacement trees, the builder has to notify every owner within 300 feet that trees are available and post a sign on the property. The trees can go to a neighbor who accepts them, under a written agreement that lets the city inspect. Vetter described it as a way for people who want trees to "create a relationship with that developer."

The ordinance sets out these triggers clearly. In March, Housing First's Nick Erickson described the new law to Finance & Commerce as focused on subdividing new lots. The adopted text, however, lists demolition, grading and building permits alongside subdivisions. Buyers should plan around the text.

Putting numbers on a canopy

The security can be sized two ways. One is 110% of a verified quote from a landscape supplier. The other is a formula: $300 per inch of diameter, or per foot of conifer height, below the 75% target for protected trees, and $500 per inch or foot below the 100% target for heritage trees. Replacement trees must be at least 3.5-inch caliper or eight feet tall for protected trees, and 4.5-inch caliper or ten feet tall for heritage trees.

Here is how the formula works on two hypothetical trees in a building footprint, before anything has been replanted. Forestry staff do the actual calculation, so treat these figures as a way to understand the scale, not as a quote.

• A healthy 20-inch oak, protected. The 75% target is 15 inches of replacement, which means at least five 3.5-inch trees. The formula figure is 15 × $300, or $4,500.
• A 32-inch oak, heritage. The 100% target is 32 inches of replacement, which means at least eight 4.5-inch trees. The formula figure is 32 × $500, or $16,000.

Several mature trees add up quickly, which helps explain how the couple got to $95,000. The money does come back. Before the rewrite, city leaders put the average escrow at about $15,550. The buyer said she had recovered much of hers, but $25,000 to $30,000 was still being held when the Star Tribune reported her story. Under the new rules, the second half is released only after a certified arborist confirms the replacement trees are still alive at least 12 months after planting. If any have died, they have to be replaced first.

There are some offsets. Box elder, poplar, willow, silver maple, black locust, ash and mulberry are classified as removable. On an unbuilt lot, no mitigation is required within ten feet of the building pad, deck or patio, or within five feet of the driveway. That exemption covers unbuilt lots only. A teardown is a built lot, so trees in the new footprint still count.

Why this matters more in the current market

Edina's inventory is tight. Minneapolis Area REALTORS' August 2026 update for the city, posted September 18, shows new listings down 20.7% from August 2025, at 92. Months of supply fell to 3.1 from 3.6. In August 2026, the median sales price slipped 1.9% to $770,000, while the average rose 14.8% to $1,007,970. When the average climbs that much faster than the median, the gain is concentrated at the top of the market, which is where new construction tends to sell.

Teardowns continue to feed that top tier. The Metropolitan Council counts 60 single-family detached units permitted in Edina in 2025. The city's own permit records show about 54 single-family demolition permits in 2025 and about 37 from January through September 2026. Each of those permits now requires an approved tree plan. With few listings, buyers have less room to pass on a lot because of its canopy. That puts more weight on a careful tree count before the offer.

Questions to settle before the purchase agreement

1. What is standing, and what came down? Ask the seller in writing about any tree removal in the past 12 months, including species and approximate size. Those trees count against your permit.
2. Who prepares the inventory? An ISA-certified arborist is required for projects valued at $100,000 or more, and for new homes valued at $500,000 or more. Bringing the arborist in during the inspection period, not after closing, makes the escrow number something you can negotiate over.
3. Where are the critical root zones? Each tree's protected radius is its diameter multiplied by 1.5 feet, so a 20-inch tree protects a 30-foot circle. No construction, staging or grading is allowed inside that circle unless forestry staff approve a plan. That can shape where a new house fits on the lot.
4. Can the lot hold the replacements? If it can't, plan for the off-site process, including the neighbor notices and the sign.
5. Has forestry staff weighed in? City staff are the ones who apply the ordinance. Their reading of a specific lot is worth more than any general rule of thumb, including the illustrations in this post.

FAQ

Does the ordinance stop me from building? Kendall told the council it "would not prevent any otherwise lawful construction or redevelopment." It requires preservation or replacement.

What if I skip the plan? A violation of the tree ordinance is a misdemeanor, and the city can draw on the security to do the required work itself.

Is this legal or tax advice? No. Take questions about how the ordinance applies to a specific lot to Edina's forestry staff, an ISA-certified arborist and your attorney.

If you're weighing an Edina teardown or a wooded lot, Regan & Hornig can help you get the tree count and an arborist's view before the purchase agreement is signed. Schedule your private consultation.