Tree Removal Permits in Palmetto Bay

Palmetto Bay protects one tree by name. Section 15-1 requires all individuals of Dade County pine, Pinus elliottii, to be maintained by property owners on site. They stay in their existing locations and condition unless the section states otherwise. Where a pine cannot stay and cannot be relocated on the same property, two replacements are planted on site for every one taken or destroyed. 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 15-1 places the duty on property owners and reaches all individuals of the species. Chapter 29 reaches wider, binding each person owning or controlling real property within the village. Between them they cover an association common area, a condominium parcel, a commercial or industrial site, a hotel and an institutional campus. Both duties attach to the land rather than to a project.

The residential position runs through the county. Miami-Dade Section 24-49(4)(a) exempts ordinary yard trees at an existing single-family residence. The tree must not be a specimen, in a natural forest community, or in county right of way. Section 30-100.1 takes the specimen threshold from the county. A specimen has any individual trunk of 18 inches DBH or greater, or multiple trunks summing to 18 inches, excluding trees listed in Miami-Dade Section 24-49(4)(f). A municipality is entitled to be stricter than the county, so call the village first.

What Needs a Permit

Section 15-1 sets a standard rather than a form. The default is that a Dade County pine stays exactly where it is. Relocation on the same property is the first fallback. Mitigation arrives only once preservation in place and relocation on the same property have both been ruled out. Because the section states that sequence rather than an application process, settle the approval route with the village before a pine is scheduled.

Chapter 29 adds a duty that never lapses. At all times during the year, each person owning or controlling real property must keep all vegetation trimmed. No tree branch, palm frond, vine, bush or other vegetative matter may sit at any point closer than six feet from any overhead electric utility facility. The purpose stated in Section 29-53 is to ensure that all lines are clear.

Section 29-53 also fixes planting distances. A tree with a mature height of 30 feet or more is planted no closer than 30 feet horizontally from any overhead electric facility. One with a mature height of 20 to 30 feet is planted no closer than 20 feet. Small trees and shrubs under 20 feet at maturity may be planted adjacent to electric power facilities. Palms are planted at not less than the mature maximum frond length plus three feet.

All future landscaping requires prior approval of the community development department. The FPL Right Tree, Right Place Guidelines govern species selection, and exotic species may not be planted under the provision. Where planting sits near electric facilities, the village landscaping requirements are mitigated or exempted. A replanting plan for a site with overhead lines therefore passes through the department first.

What It Costs

The number that decides a Palmetto Bay budget is the replacement obligation rather than an application fee. Under Section 15-1, where preservation in place or relocation on the same property is not possible, on-site mitigation is required at a ratio of 1:2. For every one Dade County pine taken or destroyed, two mitigation individuals must be newly planted on the same property. Where mitigation on the same property is not possible, off-site mitigation within the village is required at a ratio of 1:3.

Relocation carries a tail. If a relocated tree does not survive five years, the mitigation obligation revives. The cost of moving a pine is not settled on the day it is moved. Identification sets all of this running, because the ratios attach to Dade County pine specifically. The code also lists that species as Cuban pine, Dade County slash pine, pitch pine, slash pine, South Florida slash pine, swamp pine and yellow slash pine.

Section 15-1 states the obligation in trees rather than in dollars. Whatever the village charges to process an application is set outside that section, so we confirm the current amount with the community development department before quoting. Where mitigation runs off site, the planting locations are settled with the village too, since the code requires them to be within the village.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

The penalties here attach to the utility clearance duty. Section 29-56 covers allowing a hindrance to utility flow, either by not allowing the utility to remedy it or by failing to hire a qualified line clearing arborist. Where that runs past the 30-day period identified at Section 29-54(b), the result is a notice of civil infraction with a fine of $100.00 per day. A violation of Section 29-53 carries a flat $100.00 notice of civil infraction.

A civil penalty under the chapter continues to accrue until the violator comes into compliance. It can also end at judgment in a suit to foreclose a lien under the chapter, whichever occurs first. Three months after such a lien is filed and left unpaid, the village may foreclose or otherwise execute it. The village may also use any power given to municipalities by Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, and seek declaratory and injunctive relief.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Palmetto Bay writes a contractor requirement into the penalty itself. Section 29-56 names failing to hire a qualified line clearing arborist as one way an owner incurs the daily fine. Sections 29-53 to 29-55 name a qualified line clearing professional as the person who does work an owner elects. Neither term is defined in Sections 29-53 to 29-56. Qualification for work near energized conductors is governed by ANSI Z133 rather than by ISA certification alone, so establish with the village and the utility which qualification they accept.

Under the 2006 FPL procedures, the utility attempts to notify affected property owners two to three weeks before scheduled line clearing. The utility also gives the village manager 14 days prior written notice. Owners then have ten calendar days to file notice with the utility of an intent to hire a qualified line clearing professional. Proper notice provides 30 calendar days to complete the work.

Completing the work does not close the matter. On completion, the qualified line clearing professional and the property owner must contact the utility to schedule an inspection. Only after inspection and sign off by the utility is the violation considered corrected. Section 29-55 adds that hindering the flow of electric utility service is unlawful, and that refusing the utility ingress and egress for line clearing is itself a violation. The procedure does not apply in an emergency or natural disaster.

What to Do Next

Before tree work is scheduled in Palmetto Bay, settle three things. Whether any tree in scope is a Dade County pine, because that one identification decides whether a 1:2 or 1:3 replacement obligation attaches. Whether preservation in place or relocation on the same property is possible, because Section 15-1 puts both ahead of mitigation. And whether anything in scope sits within six feet of an overhead electric facility, because that work runs on the utility calendar.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees, identify species, document size and condition, prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one, and file with the village. We handle replacement planting where mitigation applies, at the ratio the section sets. One boundary is worth stating plainly, because the village duty sits inside it. Our crews stay at least ten feet from energized lines, and the six foot clearance Section 29-53 requires falls within that distance, so that portion is work we do not perform. It goes to the utility or to a contractor holding the line clearance qualification, and we say so before a job is booked rather than after.

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 30 August 2026.

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