Tree and Vegetation Permits in Atlantis

In Atlantis the vegetation review on a construction project is carried by the building permit. Section 8.5-11 attaches to all construction activity which changes the footprint of the structure. It adds a landscape plan and a written statement on the proposed activity and its impact on existing vegetation. The architectural review committee then decides, and where it finds significant existing vegetation will be removed without reasonable replacement, the building permit will not be issued. TWQ Landscaping prepares and files these applications, and our ISA Certified Arborist (NY-6948A) produces the supporting report where one is required.

Does This Apply to Your Property?

The trigger in Section 8.5-11 is written around the work rather than around the property type. It reaches all construction activity which changes the footprint of the structure. A commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel, a hotel and a school are read against that same test. Section 8.5-5 adds a second trigger that follows the tree instead of the project. It attaches to any tree identified for preservation on an approved landscape plan or city permit.

The two Palm Beach County articles we read do not create a general permit to remove an ordinary tree, so the city rule is the one that governs a removal. Our Palm Beach County guide sets out the county position that sits behind it.

Atlantis writes the state hazardous tree route at Florida Statutes Section 163.045 into its own code, under the heading exemption for certain tree removal on residential property. The exemption covers the removal of a tree located on residentially zoned property containing a detached single-family dwelling and being actively used as a single-family residence. Its reach extends to the requirements of that section and to any City permitting requirements, and it extends to replacement as well.

Three conditions apply, and they are cumulative. An on-site personal inspection of the tree is conducted by an International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect. That professional provides documentation that the tree poses an unacceptable risk to persons or property. The determination is based on national tree risk assessment standards. An unacceptable risk exists where removal is the only means of practically mitigating the risk below moderate, under the procedures in Best Management Practices, Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017).

The ordinary landscape standards for single-family districts sit separately, in Section 8.5-6. In R-1AAA, R-1AA, R1A, R1 and R1B, a minimum of 30 percent of the parcel is landscaped, and no more than 60 percent of that should contain turf grass. The required trees are located in the turf areas, and not less than five trees or palm trees are required per parcel. Trees saved during construction are credited toward that count under Section 8.5-5.

What Needs a Permit

Section 8.5-11 sets what goes in. Construction activity that changes the footprint of the structure carries the landscape plan and the written statement on the impact on existing vegetation. The landscape plan or site plan will include a limit of work line to delineate the area affected by the proposed construction activity. The affected area is therefore drawn on the document before the committee sees it.

The decision sits with the architectural review committee, and it is carried by the building permit. If the committee finds that existing vegetation is protected to the greatest extent possible, a building permit will be issued. If the committee finds significant existing vegetation will be removed without reasonable replacement, the building permit will not be issued. The lead time therefore follows that committee's calendar rather than a counter transaction.

Section 8.5-5(c) sets the site standard. Trees which are to be preserved pursuant to any regulations in the chapter must preserve 75 percent of the drip line of such trees. The same subsection then attaches a replacement duty to any tree identified for preservation pursuant to an approved landscape plan or city permit. Establishing which trees carry that identification is the first thing to settle.

What It Costs

The number that decides a budget in Atlantis is the replacement ratio rather than a counter fee. A tree identified for preservation pursuant to an approved landscape plan or city permit, and damaged or destroyed during construction, must be replaced with trees of like DBH. The ratio is two replacement trees per each damaged tree. The subsection names damaged as well as destroyed, so the obligation can attach to a tree that is still standing.

As a worked example rather than a schedule rate, six preserved trees damaged during a job becomes twelve replacement trees. Each one is matched to the DBH of the tree it replaces. That sizing is why the total tracks the trees that were standing on the site rather than any published amount.

Credit runs the other way, and it is earned by keeping trees. Preservation earns credit against the landscape area requirement under Section 8.5-5. A tree under six inches DBH earns one credit, a tree at six inches DBH or greater earns two, and a qualifying palm earns between half a credit and one credit.

The one dollar figure these sections carry is a threshold rather than a price. For smaller projects, with construction costs of $5,000.00 and less, a site sketch plan showing existing vegetation will fulfill the document submittal portion of the vegetation protection requirements. It goes in with a written statement on the proposed activity and its impact on existing vegetation. The permit and application amounts sit with the city rather than in these sections, so we confirm them before quoting.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

The consequence that lands first on a construction job is the building permit itself. Section 8.5-11 conditions issuance on the committee's finding, and where the committee finds significant existing vegetation will be removed without reasonable replacement, the building permit will not be issued. That puts the vegetation submittal on the project's critical path rather than the tree work's.

Section 8.5-5 is titled for enforcement, violations and penalties as well as for protection of existing vegetation, and the replacement ratio sits inside it. A tree identified for preservation and then damaged or destroyed during construction carries two replacement trees of like DBH. What the penalty provisions in that section come to in a given case is settled with the city before work is scheduled.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Two answers are worth having in writing before a contractor mobilizes. Where the limit of work line runs on the approved plan, and which trees the plan or the city permit identifies for preservation. Those two together decide whether a machine track through a root zone turns into a replacement obligation.

The 75 percent drip line figure is a working standard rather than a paperwork one. Protection has to be set to the drip line before equipment arrives, and 75 percent of it has to survive the job. Ask how access routes and material storage are laid out around the protected trees before the schedule is set.

What to Do Next

Four things are worth settling before site work is scheduled in Atlantis. Whether the project changes the footprint of the structure. Which submittal route the project takes. Which trees the approved plan or the city permit identifies for preservation. And when the architectural review committee next sits, because that is the gate the building permit passes through.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees, document species, size and condition, prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one, draw the vegetation submittal to what Section 8.5-11 asks for, set protection to the drip line before work starts, and handle replacement planting where the ratio applies. TWQ Landscaping handles tree permitting for the properties we maintain across Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade: community associations and condominiums, commercial and industrial sites, medical and senior living campuses, schools, religious campuses, hotels, multifamily rental, self-storage, dealerships, retail outparcels, marinas, mobile home communities, municipal grounds and mixed-use. Call (954) 583-4752 or request a proposal.

TWQ Landscaping maintains commercial and community association property in Atlantis. See landscaping services in Atlantis.

The information presented on this page was accurate as of 23 August 2026.

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