Tree Removal Permits in North Bay Village

In North Bay Village the figure that decides a tree budget is counted in caliper inches. A tree removed illegally is replaced on the basis of two caliper inches for every one caliper inch of tree removed, and a specimen tree at four caliper inches for every one. 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 100.01 of the Village Code describes the Village tree regulations as a minimum standard for the protection, removal and relocation of trees. The same section makes it unlawful to abuse any tree by improper trimming, or to effectively destroy a tree that is not specifically exempted. That is written about the tree and the act rather than about the owner. A commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel or an institutional campus is read against the same standard.

Two questions sit with the county rather than the Village. Where a tree stands in a natural forest community, a DERM permit is required in addition to the Village permit. And the position on a yard tree at an existing single-family residence is set by Miami-Dade County Section 24-49(4)(a) rather than by the Village code, on conditions our Miami-Dade County guide sets out. A municipality is entitled to be stricter than the county, so confirm it with the Village.

What Needs a Permit

The Village issues a tree removal permit, and Section 9.10 puts a condition in front of it. Before the Village issues a tree removal permit that allows the replacement of any tree, the applicant must demonstrate that relocation is not a viable alternative. Relocation is the question to answer first, so an application drawn around replacement planting alone has a step missing.

Section 9.10 also carries the state residential exemption at Florida Statutes Section 163.045 across in full. The exemption covers the notice, the application, the approval, the permit, the fee and the mitigation, and it covers pruning and trimming as well as removal. It runs on documentation, held by the property owner, from an arborist certified by the ISA or a Florida licensed landscape architect, demonstrating that the tree poses an unacceptable risk to persons or property.

The code then fixes the test that documentation has to meet. A tree poses an unacceptable risk if removal is the only means of practically mitigating its risk below moderate, as determined by the tree risk assessment procedures outlined in Best Management Practices, Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017). The credential named there is the one our ISA Certified Arborist (NY-6948A) holds. Section 9.10 also reserves trees within the public right of way, which private property owners may not remove, so a swale tree stays with the Village whatever the documentation concludes.

Section 100.01 defines the terms that decide whether a job is trimming or an offense. Hat-racking is flat-cutting the top of a tree, severing the leader or leaders, or removing any branch three inches or greater in diameter at any point other than the branch collar. Caliper is measured six inches above natural grade on a tree under four inches in diameter, and 12 inches above natural grade on a tree of four inches or more. DBH is measured at four and a half feet, and multiple trunks are summed.

What It Costs

The replacement obligation is the number that moves a total here, and it is counted in caliper inches. Trees removed illegally are replaced on the basis of two caliper inches for every one caliper inch of tree removed, which the code illustrates as a ten inch caliper tree producing a total of 20 caliper inches replanted. Specimen trees removed illegally are replaced on the basis of four caliper inches for every one caliper inch removed. Replacements go back on site and meet the minimum caliper and height standards.

Two amounts are settled with the Village before we quote: the fee for the Village tree removal permit, and the civil penalty that attaches to a violation. The Village Code carries a schedule of civil penalties at Section 153.04, and the leaf blower chapter carries its own enforcement and penalties provision at Section 105.04. A board should size the job on the caliper inch replacement and confirm the fee separately.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

The permit itself carries no protection if it should not have issued. Section 100.01 directs that a Village official issue a tree removal permit only where it complies with these tree regulations. Any such permit issued in error or under false pretenses is void. It is unlawful for any person to violate or not comply with any of the conditions of a Village tree removal or landscape permit. A permit obtained on a bad application is void rather than merely voidable.

One liability limit is worth knowing where a lender holds the paper. A mortgagee on property where a violation of these regulations has occurred becomes liable for it in three situations. Where, before the violation, it foreclosed upon the property. Where, before the violation, it participated in the management or control of the property. Or where it effected or caused the tree ordinance violations. For an association or a manager taking over a lender-owned parcel, that is the line Section 100.01 draws.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Section 105.02 bans a piece of equipment a crew arrives with. The use of gas-powered leaf blowers by commercial property owners and multi-family properties is prohibited within the Village, and the chapter regulations extend to private use of gas-powered leaf blowers by single family owners or occupants. Battery and electric powered leaf blowers may be used, consistent with Section 96.02 of the Village Code. The code also encourages equipment operating at 65 dB or less, and discourages running equipment continuously.

Fertilizer here runs on a calendar. Chapter 102, at Sections 102.05, 102.06 and 102.13, defines a Restricted Application Period of June 1 to September 30. Fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus is barred from turf and landscape plants during it, during the Prohibited Application Period, and on saturated soils. Fertilizer goes only on actively growing turf. It is withheld before seeding or sodding, and for the first 30 days after, except for emergency hydro-seeding or as the site stormwater plan provides.

The same chapter keeps fertilizer 15 feet from any pond, stream, watercourse, lake, canal or wetland, and from the top of a seawall, and it preserves any stricter county rule. Newly planted turf may be fertilized inside that zone for a 60 day period beginning 30 days after planting. Since 31 December 2020, a commercial applicator working in the Village carries evidence of certification as a Commercial Fertilizer Applicator, per Rule 5E-14.117(18). The certifying agency is the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the evidence goes on the person at all times when applying.

What to Do Next

Four things are worth settling before tree work is scheduled in North Bay Village. Whether any tree in scope stands in the public right of way. Whether the property sits in a natural forest community, which adds a DERM permit to the Village permit. Whether relocation can be ruled out, since a permit allowing replacement depends on that demonstration. And whether the cuts in scope reach the hat-racking definition at three inches.

We settle all four before quoting. We inspect the trees and document species, caliper and condition at the measurement points the code uses. We prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one, file the permit, and plan the replacement planting so the caliper inches fit on site. 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 North Bay Village. See landscaping services in North Bay Village.

The information presented on this page was accurate as of 30 August 2026.

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