Tree Removal Permits in Dania Beach

Dania Beach regulates any tree, and it does not call the approval a permit. Section 825-30 of the Land Development Code bars a person from causing, suffering, permitting or allowing the removal or effective destruction of any tree in the city without first obtaining a license. Three parties are named as responsible: the property owner, the holder of an easement, and the person removing the tree. 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?

Dania Beach holds a certified tree ordinance and enforces it in lieu of county enforcement, so the city is the counterparty, though that certification is not permanent. The rules sit in Chapter 28 of the Land Development Code, Part 8, Articles 825, 826 and 830. Section 825-30 is written by act and by geography rather than by property type, reaching any tree within the city boundaries, so a commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel and an industrial yard are read against the same words.

What Needs a Permit

A license can be required on a job that removes nothing. Section 825-30(C) provides that land clearing and site development that may result in the removal of trees shall not occur until a tree removal license has been obtained, and states this may include site developments with an approved landscape plan that do not propose to remove trees but are required to preserve trees in place and provide a bond. Section 825-30(B) puts historic trees on a separate track: a variance from the commission comes before removal.

Under Section 825-80 a tree may be removed only where the applicant has shown the city that the proposed or existing development cannot be located on the site without removing the tree, and that there is no practical way to avoid the removal. The remedy order is then sequential. The applicant must relocate the trees to be removed, and if relocation is not a viable solution the applicant shall replace them. Payment into the trust fund arises only where the applicant can neither relocate nor replace.

Pruning sits under a conditional exemption. Section 826-60(B) exempts pruning by qualified entities, which it lists as property owners, utility or other easement holders and their authorized contractors or agents, but only where the work does not qualify as tree abuse under Article 830 and is conducted wholly in accordance with ANSI A-300 standards.

A general license under Section 825-60 carries a use notice on a clock that differs by activity. A hazard tree, diseased, injured or in danger of falling and threatening contiguous persons, takes a use notice fifteen days before the work, including a one-to-one replanting plan for trees and palms. An emergency tree failure takes a use notice within fifteen days after the event, and invasive species in FLEPPC Category I or II take fifteen days before. A general license with a use notice is valid three months, extendable once by up to six months.

What It Costs

The number that decides a budget here is replacement, not the license fee. The fee for a tree removal license under Sections 825-70 and 825-80 comes from the community development department, and a general license fee is waived where the tree is not a historic, specimen or required tree. A certified tree survey has to be prepared by a person qualified to do so under the Laws of Florida, and in no case shall one be required where five or fewer trees are proposed for removal.

Under Section 825-100, trees that are removed and not relocated shall be replaced so that there is at a minimum no loss of tree canopy coverage upon maturity of the replacement trees. For trees removed on new or amended developments under Section 825-80(B), an additional fifty percent tree replacement is required, except for trees approved under a general license. Replacement planting also has to be diverse on a published scale: one species where one to five trees are required, two at six, three at eleven, four at twenty-one, and five at fifty-one or more.

Where replacement cannot be accomplished, Section 825-130 sets a published formula. The replacement fee paid into the Dania Beach Tree Preservation Trust Fund is based on the current edition of the Plant Finder catalog for the type of tree required, multiplied by two and seven-tenths, so it can be estimated in advance. That fee is reached where the applicant demonstrates that replacement is not a viable alternative due to a lack of available space. Relocating a tree on site counts toward equivalent replacement canopy, and relocating it off site counts as half credit.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Removal in violation of the article is declared a public nuisance. Section 825-200 subjects any violation to the maximum fine provided in Section 1-8, and that fine goes into the tree preservation trust fund, which is used solely for tree conservation projects. The city may also sue in civil court in addition to or in lieu of criminal prosecution, and a code enforcement officer may order that work stop, at which point the persons performing it shall immediately cease.

Where the natural habit of growth of a tree is damaged or destroyed, the owner installs a replacement tree, or may elect remedial maintenance to restore the tree if restoration is feasible within a two-year period. The city may require a restoration plan and a bond for the canopy replacement and specimen tree value of the tree, calculated prior to the abuse. Under Section 825-80 the licensee shall remove only the trees specified in the license, and damage to any other tree on the site is a violation.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Dania Beach registers the trade and then asks for a filing before every job. Section 830-30 requires a firm to register with the department of community development before undertaking any pruning or trimming of trees in the city, on an annual fee set by resolution, for a registration year running from 1 October to 30 September. Before pruning or trimming begins, the registered firm submits the property address, the number of trees to be worked, the owner or association name and phone number, and, for an association, a letter of authorization from the association president.

That letter is worth building into the approval process rather than chasing on the day. A registered tree service keeps a copy of the registration on site along with a current Broward County tree trimmer license, and carries the name on its city registration on each vehicle and piece of equipment. The city may revoke a registration or deny renewal where the firm fails to conform to the tree trimming standards or is found to have committed tree abuse, with ten days to ask the city manager to review a revocation.

What to Do Next

Settle these before work is scheduled in Dania Beach. Whether the scope needs a license even though nothing is coming out, which is the land clearing and preserve in place case. Whether any tree in scope is historic, since that is a variance from the commission, and the application has to be made before any action for which the variance is sought. Who applies, since an agent, a lessee, a contract purchaser or an easement holder applies after submitting the certified approval of the fee simple owner.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees, record species, size and condition, prepare the arborist report where one is called for, file the license, and handle replacement planting or the payment in lieu. TWQ Landscaping handles tree permitting for the properties we maintain across Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade: community associations and condominiums, cooperative and master associations, commercial and industrial sites, medical and senior living campuses, schools, religious campuses, hotels, multifamily rental, self-storage, dealerships, retail outparcels, marinas, mobile home and RV parks, cemeteries, municipal grounds and mixed-use. Call (954) 583-4752 or request a proposal.

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

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

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