Tree Removal Permits in North Miami Beach

In North Miami Beach the tree permit begins at a trunk diameter of three inches, and it covers relocating a tree as well as removing one. Three inches is a small trunk, and the threshold is written against every existing tree on the site. A tree survey of every tree over three inches accompanies a site plan application. 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 24-121 is written around an existing tree on the site, so it turns on the tree rather than the property type. A commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel, a hotel or an institutional campus is inside it on the general terms. The section excepts invasive species listed by FISC, and everything else at three inches or greater in trunk diameter is inside.

The residential position runs through the county. Miami-Dade Section 24-49(4)(a) exempts ordinary yard trees at an existing single-family residence, provided the tree is not a specimen, not in a natural forest community, and not in the county right of way. We searched the city tree and landscape chapters and found nothing stricter. A municipality is entitled to be stricter than the county and several in Miami-Dade are, so confirm the position with the city before removal.

What Needs a Permit

Section 24-121 provides that an existing tree on the site having a trunk diameter of three inches or greater shall not be removed or relocated without a permit from the Community Development Department. Relocation is named alongside removal, so moving a tree within the property is permitted work too. In evaluating whether to grant the permit, the City considers the size, species, health, rareness and age of the tree. The outcome is a judgment rather than a form.

A second document sits behind the permit on any development. A tree survey of all trees over three inches must accompany a site plan application, and it is overlaid on the site plan itself. For each tree it records the botanical and common name, the diameter, the height and the canopy spread. That is an inventory of the whole site, and it exists before the application is filed.

What It Costs

The replacement decides a budget here, not the permit. Trees which are hatracked, topped or unnaturally shaped may be required to be removed and replaced, or mitigated by planting additional trees on or off site, in order to replace the tree canopy existing prior to the damage. More than one tree may be required to replace each damaged tree, and the size and canopy of the damaged tree set the count. If the trees are not replaced, the owner is subjected to a fine under Section 24-7.

Two further line items belong in the same budget. Section 24-121 places the permit with the Community Development Department, and we confirm the current permit fee with that department before quoting a job. The tree survey is professional work in its own right, since it covers every tree on the site over three inches and not only the trees coming out.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Section 24-7 sets the penalty for violating any provision of the chapter or failing to comply with its requirements. On conviction the fine is not more than $250.00, and all costs and expenses involved in the case are paid in addition. Each day such violation continues is considered a separate offense, so a condition left in place is counted day by day rather than once.

The section also names who can be charged. The owner or tenant of any building, structure, premises or part thereof, and any architect, builder, contractor, agent or other person who commits, participates in, assists in or maintains the violation, may each be found guilty of a separate offense. Nothing in it prevents the City from taking other lawful action. A separate route applies where landscaping stops conforming after a certificate of occupancy: written notice describes the corrective action, the Code Compliance Division sets the compliance period, and the Code Enforcement Board determines fines if it lapses.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Topping is unlawful for any person, firm or City department, and the code defines it with two numbers. Topping is the severe cutting back of limbs to stubs larger than three inches in diameter within the tree crown, to such a degree so as to remove more than one-third of the normal canopy and disfigure the tree. Both limbs of that test have to be met, so the definition is worth reading before briefing a crew.

During site development, trees designated for preservation take protective barriers. The barrier goes around each tree or cluster of trees at the drip line or six feet in radius, whichever is greater, measured from the trunk of the protected tree. No excess soil, fill or equipment goes inside it. On a young tree with a narrow canopy the six foot radius controls, because the drip line falls inside that minimum.

Two numbers govern the routine work rather than tree jobs. Turf should be mowed at intervals short enough that no more than one-third of the blade height is removed per mowing, which limits how long a property can be left between cuts. The property owner also maintains existing trees so that no branches sit closer than ten feet to overhead electrical facilities, a standing duty rather than a one-off.

Fertilizer application carries a staffing requirement. It names persons providing commercial landscape maintenance services, commercial fertilizer applicator services and institutional fertilizer applicator services, and a GI-BMP certificate holder has to be physically on site whenever fertilizer is applied. That is a scheduling constraint rather than a paperwork one. The stated scope is the City's unincorporated areas and City properties, so where a site sits inside it is worth confirming.

Debris handling is regulated, and accidental deposition counts. In no case shall grass clippings, vegetative material or vegetative debris be washed, swept or blown off into stormwater drains, ditches, conveyances, water bodies, wetlands, sidewalks or roadways, either intentionally or accidentally. Yard waste shall not be disposed of or stored by shorelines, ditches, swales or the vicinity of storm drains. Yard waste and compost sites are hidden from street view, kept free of weeds and maintained to prevent odor.

Four shorter standards remain. Diseased material should not be mulched, and is disposed of properly to avoid spreading disease. Mulch is renewed periodically, and plastic sheeting and other impervious materials shall not be used under it. Preserved and created ecological communities are maintained in a natural state, and only clearing by hand is permissible unless the Director authorizes it. Irrigation is kept at the efficiency it was designed for, eliminating all free-flow possibilities, and breaks are repaired immediately.

What to Do Next

Before tree work is scheduled in North Miami Beach, four things are worth settling. Whether any tree in scope reaches three inches in trunk diameter, since that is where the permit begins. Whether any of them is an invasive species listed by FISC, which the section excepts. Whether the scope involves relocating a tree, because that sits inside the same permit. And whether any branch in scope is within ten feet of overhead electrical facilities.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees, document species, size and condition, prepare the tree survey and the arborist report where the application calls for one, file the permit with the Community Development Department, install protective barriers to the drip line or six foot standard, and handle replacement planting where it is required. 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 Miami Beach. See landscaping services in North Miami Beach.

The information presented on this page was accurate as of 29 August 2026.

Related Services

• Tree Care (Overview)
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• Tree Inventory & Management Plans