Tree Removal Permits in North Palm Beach

North Palm Beach adopted its tree ordinance on 14 August 2025 as Ordinance No. 2025-12, in Appendix C, Zoning, at sections 45-102 through 45-111. Section 45-102 applies it to all parcels of real property in the village and names commercial properties expressly: no person, firm, corporation, association or agency shall destroy, remove or relocate a protected tree without first obtaining a tree permit. 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 article reaches entities as well as individuals. Persons, firms, corporations, associations and agencies are named in the same sentence, so a board, a management company and the crew on site each sit inside it. The two Palm Beach County articles we read do not create a general permit to remove an ordinary tree, so on a removal in North Palm Beach the village rule is the one that governs. A separate county obligation does reach inside city limits: the countywide invasive non-native vegetation ordinance applies in incorporated areas except where a municipal ordinance conflicts, and our Palm Beach County guide sets out what it requires.

Section 45-106 carries the state residential exemption at Florida Statutes section 163.045, and it runs through a credential: documentation from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture, or a Florida licensed landscape architect, that removal is the only means of practically mitigating the tree's risk below moderate under Best Management Practices, Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017). Residential property means a single-family detached building on a lot actively used as such, and parcels comprising the common elements or community property of a planned unit development or a mixed-use development are excluded from it.

What Needs a Permit

Section 45-104 requires a tree removal permit before a protected tree is removed, destroyed or relocated, unless section 45-106 exempts the work. Section 45-103 defines a protected tree in two parts: any listed native tree that meets the size criteria for its species, and any swale tree regardless of size. A swale tree is any tree in the public right-of-way adjacent to a roadway, and the size criteria do not reach it.

The size criteria are set species by species, which puts identification ahead of measurement. Live Oak, Gumbo Limbo, Slash Pine, Mahogany and Bald Cypress are protected at 6 inches DBH. Pigeon Plum, Paradise Tree, Wild Tamarind, Green Buttonwood, Florida Mastwood and Red Maple are protected at 4 inches. Dahoon Holly and Satinleaf are protected at 3 inches. Cabbage Palm is protected at 12 feet of clear trunk, Thatch Palm at 8 feet, and any other South Florida indigenous tree in the Florida Native Plant Atlas at 6 inches DBH.

DBH is the trunk diameter measured at four and one-half feet above the ground, and for a multi-trunk tree it is the sum of the diameters of all trunks at that height. Section 45-106 exempts village public works removal for public safety or infrastructure, trees destroyed by act of god or by external forces that reasonable care could not have prevented, routine pruning and maintenance that does not result in irreversible damage, invasive species on the Florida Invasive Species Council list, any fruit tree, and any dead tree.

A permit issues on stated grounds under section 45-107, and one or more has to apply: that the tree is an unreasonable impediment to a permitted use by virtue of its location in a buildable area or yard area, where preservation is not feasible under any reasonable alternative; that it interferes with utility services; that it creates unsafe vision clearances; that it conflicts with other village ordinances; that it is listed as a Category 1 Exotic Pest and Invasive Plant by that council, in which case no fee is charged; or that the village requires its removal.

Development work carries a second permit ahead of the first. Section 36-38.1 provides that no person, corporation, association, public agency, or agent or employee thereof shall effectively destroy or remove native vegetation from any property in the village, and it runs in two stages. As a precondition to the filing or receiving of any application for a building permit, the applicant must apply for and receive a preliminary approval certificate from the department of community development. No removal of vegetation takes place until the final vegetation removal permit issues.

What It Costs

Mitigation is the number that decides a budget here, not the permit fee. Section 45-109 requires mitigation for all tree removal, at a ratio of 1:1 inches DBH for protected trees. Relocation is the village's preferred form, on site where feasible and off site to a village-approved location where it is not. Where relocation is not feasible, the removed tree is replaced with native trees from a village-approved list, such that the total caliper of the replacement trees equals or exceeds the DBH of the removed tree.

The permit fee and the tree trust fund contribution both run off an adopted fee schedule that is not printed in the code. Confirm both with the village Building and Zoning Department. Three deadlines sit alongside them. Replacement mitigation trees are planted within 90 days of permit issuance, or before a first certificate of occupancy, with major storm events excepted. Relocated trees and palms that do not survive their first nine months are replaced at the applicant's expense. And the permit itself expires if work is not commenced within 90 calendar days.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Section 45-111 sets three consequences, and they compound. A triple permit fee for each violation, with each tree constituting a separate violation, so the fee multiplies by the number of trees rather than applying once to the job. Mitigation at an increased ratio of 2:1 inches DBH rather than 1:1, which doubles the replanting on the same trunk measurement. And the issuance of a stop-work order.

What to Check With Your Contractor

North Palm Beach regulates the cut itself, not only the removal. Section 45-94 allows a maximum of one-fourth of a tree's canopy to be removed within a one year period, provided the work conforms to the standards of crown reduction, crown cleaning, crown thinning, crown raising, vista pruning and crown restoration, and all pruning must meet ANSI A300. Incidental pruning is permitted for conflicts with views, power lines, structures, lighting, signage, vehicles and pedestrians.

A tree pruned in excess of those requirements has to be replaced with a tree meeting the section's minimum requirements, or matching the specifications of the tree that was pruned, whichever is greater, and that replacement falls at the property owner's cost. One alternative runs through a credential: where it is deemed possible by a certified arborist, a remedy plan may be proposed to the village that would correct the pruning error, in place of replacing the tree. Section 45-110 also authorizes the village to engage a licensed landscape architect or a certified arborist to render determinations under the article.

What to Do Next

Four things are worth settling before tree work is scheduled in North Palm Beach. Which trees meet the threshold for their species, or sit in the swale and are protected at any size. Whether a building permit is in the project, because the preliminary approval certificate comes before that application can be filed. What the adopted fee schedule currently says. And who signs, because section 45-104 requires the property owner's signature, or an authorized agent's signature with an agent authorization letter. The same section calls for a justification, a mitigation plan, a survey and the parcel control number.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect and identify the trees, prepare the arborist report where one is called for, file the permit, and handle relocation or replacement planting where mitigation applies. 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.

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

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