Tree Removal Permits in Golden Beach

A tree removal in Golden Beach takes two permits, and the town will not issue its own until the county permit exists. Section 52-12 of the town code requires a permit from the Town before a tree is cut down, destroyed, removed, relocated or destructively damaged. Issuance of that permit then depends on proof of a permit from the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources. That proof is required wherever Division 2 of Chapter 24 of the county code calls for a county permit, which puts the county application first. 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?

Section 52-12 is written against any tree and any person, so it does not turn on the type of owner. A commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel, a hotel, a school or a medical campus sits inside it on the general terms. The section also reaches past the parcel line. No trees may be removed from any public land, including rights of way and swale areas, without the approval of the Town Manager or designee. That puts a swale removal on a separate approval track from the lawn behind it.

Miami-Dade County runs the tree preservation permit that Section 52-12 sequences the town permit behind, and our Miami-Dade County guide sets out that layer. One county provision comes up on single-family property. Section 24-49(4)(a) of the county code carries an exemption for an ordinary yard tree at an existing single-family residence, and it reaches a tree only where that tree is not a specimen, is not in a natural forest community and is not in the county right of way. Section 52-12 is drawn against any tree and any person, and a municipality is entitled to be stricter than the county, so settle a single-family removal with the town first.

What Needs a Permit

Section 52-12 lists the acts it covers, and the list is wider than removal. It reaches cutting down, destroying, removing, relocating and destructively damaging a tree. It also reaches causing any of those things to be done. That last limb matters for a board or a property manager, because instructing a contractor sits inside the section in the same way that running the saw does.

The standards applied at the town counter are the county's. Section 52-12 says the town processes its own tree removal permits in the same manner, pursuant to the same requirements and guidelines as provided by Section 24.49 of the Miami-Dade County Code. The questions asked of an application therefore track the county's, and the two permits are related rather than alternative.

One provision in Section 52-12 overrides the rest. Under no circumstances may any person remove a tree where the resulting number of trees on the property, excluding any prohibited trees, is less than the number of trees required by the code. No permit can authorize a removal that drops a property below its required tree count. On a site sitting at or near that count, this turns a removal question into a replacement planting question.

Pruning method carries exposure of its own. Section 52-9(2) makes it a violation to perform the techniques of topping or hatracking. It reaches other pruning techniques that remove the vertical leader stems, and other pruning which results in an unnecessary reduction of shade of public or private trees. The Tree Abuse definition at Section 52-1 expressly includes damage to the root system by machinery, construction equipment, cambium layer penetration, storage of materials, soil compaction, excavation, chemical application or spillage.

What It Costs

The number that decides a budget in Golden Beach is not a permit fee. Section 52-16 gives the town a self-help remedy. A notice allows 15 days from its date for the condition to be remedied so as to make it nonviolative of section 52-16(1). After that the Town of Golden Beach proceeds to remedy the condition itself, and imposes the cost of that work as a lien on the property. The cost is whatever the work costs, and the code prints it on the notice as a blank to be filled in.

The fixed part of that bill is $50.00. The statutory notice form in the code states that the estimated cost to remedy the condition would be a blank amount, plus $50.00. That $50.00 is an administrative charge added on top of the cost of the work rather than the cost itself. Read the form the way it is written. The $50.00 is the part you can see, and the blank beside it is the part that decides the total.

Other numbers belong in the same budget. Any fee for the town permit, and any fee for the county permit that has to be in hand before the town will issue, is confirmed with those departments before a proposal goes out rather than estimated. The tree count floor can also add replacement planting to a job that began as a removal, and that is settled at the same time.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Enforcement in Golden Beach runs through abatement. The statutory notice starts a 15 day clock from its own date. If the condition is not put right in that time, the town proceeds to remedy it and charges the work to the property. The cost then becomes a lien against the property 30 days after notice of completion of the work by the town. That lien has the same extent and character as the lien for special assessments, with the same penalties and the same rights of collections, foreclosure, sale and forfeiture.

That is a different kind of exposure from a ticket. It attaches to the property, and the rights attached to it run as far as foreclosure and forced sale. Whether the town also levies code enforcement fines on top of the abatement remedy is a question for the town. We settle that with them before telling an owner what non-compliance would cost, rather than putting a figure on the page.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Three things belong in writing before a crew is booked. Whether the county permit is in hand, because the town permit will not issue without proof of it. Whether any tree in scope stands on public land, in a right of way or in a swale, because those removals need the approval of the Town Manager or designee. And what pruning method is proposed, because topping and hatracking are violations in their own right under Section 52-9(2).

Section 52-1 puts root damage on the same footing as work in the canopy. Tree abuse there covers damage to the root system by machinery, construction equipment, cambium layer penetration, storage of materials, soil compaction, excavation, chemical application or spillage. Those are paving, drainage, irrigation and construction activities, performed by trades that never touch a branch. Where any of them will run inside a root zone, the protection arrangements belong in the scope of work.

What to Do Next

Before tree work is scheduled in Golden Beach, three things are worth settling. Whether a county permit is required for the trees in scope, because that application is sequenced first. What the property's required tree count is, and whether the removal in mind would drop it below that floor. And whether anything in scope stands on public land, in a right of way or in a swale.

We settle all three before quoting. We inspect the trees, document species, size and condition, prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one, sequence the county application ahead of the town's, file both, and plan replacement planting where the tree count floor requires it. 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.

The information presented on this page was accurate as of 24 August 2026.

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