A track through tall eucalypts near Olinda Falls

Tree removal in Montrose

Montrose is where the ranges meet the suburbs. The township tree rule covers most of it, and the state's canopy-tree rule reaches into its residential streets.

We connect you with a local arborist who works in the hills.

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Olinda Forest. Photo: Nick Carson, CC BY 3.0

The rule in Montrose

Montrose sits under Yarra Ranges' township overlay, SLO22, at 19 of the 25 points we sampled. SLO22 needs a council permit to remove indigenous vegetation of any size, and any tree over this size:

50 cm: around the trunk, measured 1.3 m up. Roughly a 16 cm trunk, which takes in most established garden trees.

Drawn to scale around a 12 m by 9 m house. The dashed ring is a state rule; the solid ring is a council overlay.

2 m: SLO22 does not apply within 2 m of a building. Branches over a roof can be cut back to 2 m clear.
10 m: The 10/30 rule. 18 of our 25 points were in a Bushfire Prone Area. A house in one, built or approved before 10 September 2009, can use it if the other conditions hold. Your property report says whether yours is. The conditions.

SLO22 also exempts dead vegetation, pruning that helps a plant regrow, and the council's listed environmental weeds.

Get a free property report from VicPlan to see which overlays cover your block.

Checked 7 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 22 to Clause 42.03 (SLO22) and Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).

Less of the bushfire overlay than up the hill

The Bushfire Management Overlay came up at only 8 of our 25 points in Montrose, where it covered every point in Kalorama and Mount Dandenong above it. That matters for one rule: clearing everything except trees out to 50 m needs the house to be in that overlay. The 10 m and 30 m distances depend only on the Bushfire Prone Area, which covered 18 of the 25.

Bushfire is still part of the town's history. A fire in 1961 destroyed 23 houses here.

Checked 7 October 2026 against Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.12 (bushfire protection exemptions).

Checked 7 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Montrose, Victoria.

The canopy-tree rule in the residential streets

Nine of our points were in the Neighbourhood Residential Zone, where the state's canopy-tree rule applies alongside SLO22. On a lot with a house, a tree at least 5 m tall with a canopy 4 m across needs a permit if its trunk is within 6 m of the narrowest street frontage or 4.5 m of the rear boundary. On a vacant lot, any such tree does.

DDO5, at 8 points, governs lot sizes and buildings. It doesn't need a permit for a tree.

Checked 7 October 2026 against Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 52.37 (canopy trees) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 5 to Clause 43.02 (DDO5).

The foot of Mount Dandenong

Montrose climbs from about 91 m above sea level to 324 m, up the foothills of Mount Dandenong. It was orchard country in the late 1800s and early 1900s, helped by high rainfall, and before it took the name Montrose in 1892 it was South Mooroolbark, and informally Double Pitts, after the two-man saw pits of the timber trade.

Yarra Ranges has a debris-flow overlay, EMO4, for the north-west face of Mount Dandenong around Kalorama and Montrose. It needs a permit for new buildings and works, but not to remove vegetation.

Checked 7 October 2026 against Wikipedia: Montrose, Victoria and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 4 to Clause 44.01 (EMO4).

The rule next door

Mount Evelyn: The same township overlay, SLO22, at 17 of our 25 points.
Kalorama and Mount Dandenong: The ranges overlay, SLO1, at every point: trees over 1.1 m around, native vegetation of any size, 4 m from a building.
Kilsyth: Mostly Yarra Ranges' SLO23, with a Maroondah strip on the western edge, where trees within 3 m of a house are exempt. Your property report says which council and which overlays are yours.

Every overlay across the hills is in the permit guide.

Checked 7 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 22 to Clause 42.03 (SLO22), Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.03 (SLO1) and Maroondah Planning Scheme, Schedule 1 to Clause 42.03 (SLO1).

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Tell us where you are and what needs doing. We pass it to a local arborist who works in the hills. They ring you back to talk about the job.

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