Texas Public Policy Foundation lays out 3 reasons that local tree cutting ordinances harm private property rights:
- private property rights include ownership of the natural resources (trees) contained with the land
- TPPF loops in Article I, Section 17 which says in rough terms, if the government takes property, the government pays
- Trees are not a public resource, trees are a natural resource belinging to the property owner
The solution: “Texas Legislature should prohibit local governments from preventing the trimming or removal of trees or timber located on the landowner’s property “