# Lot, Brush and Acreage Clearing in Celina, TX > Land clearing in Celina, TX planned around Celina's species-based tree table, its 2-acre burn permit rule and Collin County clay. Lots, brush and acreage. URL: https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/service-areas/celina/ Celina has grown faster than any other city in the area [Homestead Land Clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/) serves. U.S. Census estimates put it at 17,099 residents in 2020 and 64,427 by mid-2025, a 276.8% jump, and the Census Building Permits Survey counted 2,905 new single-family permits in 2024 and another 2,489 the following year. That pace leaves an unusual mix on the ground: finished subdivisions along Preston Road (SH 289) sitting next to open pasture, fencerows grown up in brush, and creek bottoms that have not been touched in decades. Clearing here means sorting out which of those you are dealing with and which Celina rule applies before anyone starts a machine. ## What makes a Celina clearing job different **The tree table is the first thing to read.** Frisco scales replacement by trunk diameter (100% for 6 to 12 inches, up to 300% over 20 inches) and exempts platted single-family lots from its removal permit. Celina's ordinance (Chapter 14, Article 14.04) sorts protected trees, meaning 6 inches in diameter and up, by species instead. Its Table 5 lists all oaks, pecans and any tree in the floodplain as Type 1 at a 5:1 replacement ratio; ash, elms, pines, hickory and black walnut as Type 2 at 3:1; and common hackberry, bois d'arc, cottonwood, junipers, cedars, mesquites and willows as Type 3 at 1:1. Unlisted species are typed by City staff. A fencerow of cedar and mesquite and a pecan bottom of the same acreage carry very different mitigation exposure, which is why [selective clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/selective-clearing/) often makes more sense here than a full scrape. **The survey comes first.** Celina requires a tree survey, or a note that no protected trees exist, before it issues any development permit, grading included. A removal permit that is not tied to a building permit is void after 180 days. Mitigation is either replanting or a payment into the City's tree fund at rates set in its master fee schedule, which this page does not quote. **Burning has a narrow door.** The Celina Fire Department issues outdoor burn permits at $100 per burn, and only to owners of parcels 2 acres and larger, for plant material grown on that property. The fire must sit 300 feet from any structure and its smoke must stay off roads. On top of that, Collin and Denton counties are in the Dallas-Fort Worth ozone nonattainment area, where TCEQ allows land clearing burns only when no practical alternative exists. Frisco also issues burn permits only to the landowner, but few Frisco parcels still have room to use one. The [Collin and Denton burning guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/burning-brush-collin-denton-county/) covers how county burn bans work. **The ground is clay.** USDA NRCS soil data around Celina is dominated by Houston Black clay, with Austin silty clay and eroded Heiden clay on some slopes. These soils swell when wet and crack when dry, and after a soaking rain they rut under tracks and stick to everything. See [clearing on wet clay ground](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/clearing-wet-clay-ground/) for how that affects scheduling. ## How a Celina job usually runs 1. **Walk the property.** Boundaries, the trees worth keeping, slopes, wet spots, fences, and anything buried or overhead. On Celina acreage this is also when a tree is identified by species, since that decides its mitigation type. 2. **Check the rules for that address.** City limits or not, the tree survey and permit status, whether the parcel qualifies for a burn permit, creek or floodplain limits, and utility locates through Texas811. Under Texas law, mechanized work that disturbs soil 16 inches or deeper, as stump and root grubbing can, counts as excavation and needs a locate request no earlier than 14 days and no later than 48 hours beforehand. 3. **Write the scope.** Method, finish level, stumps, debris plan and erosion control, in writing, before a price. 4. **Clear and hand off.** The site is left at the agreed finish, ready for the next trade or for seeding. Grading, building pads and drainage are a separate trade. ## Reading a Celina property before the work starts Most clearing questions in Celina begin with what used to be there. Texas Parks and Wildlife describes Collin County as Blackland Prairie that has mostly been farmed or ranched, so an untouched Celina tract is often open ground broken by fencerows and drainage lines, where species like hackberry, bois d'arc, mesquite and cedar elm tend to take hold. Under the species table, a mesquite and cedar fencerow sits at 1:1 while a cedar elm in the same line is Type 2 at 3:1, so a fencerow is rarely one uniform decision. [Fence line clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/fence-line-clearing/) and [pasture clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/pasture-clearing/) on this kind of ground often comes down to tagging the few trees that change the math and mulching or cutting the rest. Creek bottoms are the other half of the picture. Doe Branch Creek runs through the corridor where the North Texas Tollway Authority is extending the Dallas North Tollway north toward FM 428, and where a tract includes a drainage like it, that is usually where its largest trees stand. Because Celina treats every floodplain tree as Type 1 regardless of species, even a hackberry there carries the 5:1 ratio. That changes the conversation from "clear it" to "what can stay," and it is where the [creek and floodplain guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/clearing-near-creeks-and-floodplain/) earns its read. Building age and growth figures say nothing about a specific tract; the walk does. Access and timing follow the roads and the rain. Where a lot sits inside a subdivision that is still building out off Preston Road, FM 455 or the tollway corridor, it may share its entrance with heavy construction traffic, while a rural parcel off a county road may need a gate widened before equipment can get in. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals at DFW Airport show May and October as the wettest months, at 4.78 and 4.37 inches. On Houston Black clay those are the weeks a crew can lose to mud, and July and August are the driest. Electric service around Celina is commonly Oncor, though CoServ and Grayson-Collin Electric Cooperative also serve parts of the area north of Frisco, so who to call about clearances near an overhead line is confirmed per address; the [power line guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/clearing-near-utilities-and-power-lines/) explains why it matters. ## Why plan it this way Celina's rules reward knowing the species, the parcel size and the city boundary before a quote is written. A crew that scrapes first and surveys later can turn a 1:1 cedar job into a 5:1 oak problem. A quote that assumes burning on a one-acre lot has no permit path under it. Clearing that disturbs an acre or more also falls under TCEQ's construction stormwater permit, and a lot inside a larger subdivision plan counts toward that plan's total. The [stormwater permit guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/stormwater-permit-for-land-clearing/) covers who files. If the land carries an agricultural valuation, a change of use can trigger a three-year rollback tax under Texas Tax Code 23.55; the [ag valuation guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/ag-exemption-and-land-clearing/) explains the mechanics, and your appraisal district or tax advisor confirms your situation. ## Services for Celina properties - [Lot clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/lot-clearing/) for a single home site, with the survey and permit order sorted out first. - [Brush clearing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/brush-clearing/) and [forestry mulching](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/forestry-mulching/) for cedar, mesquite and fencerow growth, leaving the mulch in place. - [Clearing and grubbing](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/clearing-and-grubbing/) where roots and stumps must come out for the next trade. - [Land clearing debris removal](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/land-clearing-debris-removal/) where burning is not allowed or not wanted. For budgeting, the [cost per acre guide](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/land-clearing-cost-per-acre/) lays out the published ranges and what pushes a Celina job toward the high end, and [clearing land to build a house](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/guide/clearing-land-to-build-a-house/) walks through the order of operations for a new home site. If you are weighing a Celina tract, start with three answers: is it inside city limits, is any of it floodplain, and which trees on it are oaks or pecans. Those decide most of what follows. [Get in touch](https://homesteadlandclearingfrisco.com/contact/) and the scope gets written around them. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which trees cost the most to remove under Celina's tree rules? Celina's mitigation table is sorted by species, not just size. All oaks, pecans and any tree in the floodplain are Type 1, replaced at 5:1. Ash, elms, pines, hickory and black walnut are Type 2 at 3:1. Hackberry, bois d'arc, cottonwood, junipers, cedars, mesquites and willows are Type 3 at 1:1, and City staff assign a type to unlisted species. The rules apply to protected trees, which start at 6 inches in diameter. ### Can I burn the brush from clearing my Celina property? Only if the parcel is 2 acres or larger and you hold a Celina Fire Department outdoor burn permit, which costs $100 per burn. The fire must be at least 300 feet from any structure and its smoke cannot drift onto roads, and burning stays subject to TCEQ rules and any active burn ban. Smaller lots need chipping, mulching or hauling instead. ### What does it cost to clear land in Celina? For budgeting, HomeGuide's national per-acre ranges are light $1,200 to $2,500; moderate $2,500 to $4,500; heavy/wooded $4,500 to $8,000. North Texas pricing we reviewed falls in the same range. Celina adds its own line items: $100 per burn where burning is allowed, and tree mitigation that depends on species and diameter. A written scope sets the real number. ### My land is outside Celina city limits. Do the same rules apply? Not necessarily. Collin County issues no burn permits: its Fire Marshal says only TCEQ decides whether a land clearing burn qualifies under its rules. Unincorporated Denton County runs open burning registration and a daily burn-day decision through its Fire Marshal. Whether Celina's tree rules reach a particular lot in its extraterritorial jurisdiction was not confirmed, so that is checked for the specific address before any trees come down. ### Do I need a tree survey before clearing a Celina lot for a new house? Usually, yes. Celina requires a tree survey, or a note stating that no protected trees exist, before it issues development permits including grading permits, and before anyone removes a protected tree. A removal permit that is not tied to a building permit expires after 180 days, so the survey, permit and clearing date should be planned together.