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Tree Removal Permits in Pompano Beach

In Pompano Beach a Tree Permit is required before the removal, relocation, replacement or substantial alteration of any tree, before any land clearing, and before demolition near a tree designated to be preserved. Section 155.2411.C then adds a condition on who may file it: all applications shall be submitted by a Registered Broward County Tree Trimmer. 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 155.5204.B.1.a applies the tree preservation standards throughout the city except where the Code expressly provides otherwise, so a commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel, a hotel or an institutional campus sits inside them on the general terms. Section 155.5204.A explains why they read as they do. They are written to qualify for Broward County certification as being as stringent as Article XIV of the county code, the Tree Preservation and Abuse Ordinance.

Section 155.5204.B.2.b addresses owner occupied residential property of one acre or less developed for detached single-family and duplex usage, and every clause in it is conditional. It reaches trees other than specimen or historical trees, it requires the tree height and count set by Sections 155.5203.B.2.g.ii and 155.5203.C to be maintained, and it sets aside trees preserved, relocated or replaced under a tree removal license.

Storm work carries its own timetable. Section 155.5204.B.2.d allows the Development Services Director to suspend the section during emergency conditions caused by a hurricane or other natural disaster, on submitted photographic evidence, provided that Tree Permits for those removals are obtained within six months and replacement is completed within two years after the emergency condition ends.

What Needs a Permit

Section 155.2411.B sets three triggers: the removal, relocation, replacement or substantial alteration of any tree, any land clearing, and any demolition activity in the vicinity of an existing tree designated to be preserved. Section 155.2411.D provides that the permit shall be approved only on a finding that all the standards in Section 155.5204 are met, and Section 155.2411.E gives it a life of six months from the date of approval.

Section 155.5204.C.1 governs what the city can approve. The Development Services Director shall approve a Tree Permit authorizing removal only on making one or more of five findings: that removal is necessary to accommodate a development that cannot be sited without it, that the tree is dead, effectively destroyed, diseased, injured or otherwise of poor quality and condition, that it obstructs safe vehicular cross visibility, that it is too close to a structure so as to endanger it, or that it is an invasive tree.

Two provisions extend the permit beyond a decision to remove. Section 155.5204.C.4 states that no dead tree shall be allowed to remain on any developed property, and that its removal proceeds under a Tree Permit approved in accordance with Section 155.2411. Section 155.5204.G.2.c separately requires a Tree Permit for any corrective measure taken after tree abuse.

What It Costs

Replacement is the number that decides a budget here, and the code measures it two ways. Section 155.5204.E.1.b.i sets the minimum for a removed non-specimen tree that cannot be relocated at one caliper inch for each one DBH inch removed, and puts removal and replanting at the full expense of the applicant. Section 155.5204.E.1.b.ii measures a specimen tree in money, by an appraisal prepared by an ISA Certified Arborist under Rule 14-40.030, Florida Administrative Code.

Where there is no room to plant, the obligation converts to cash. Section 155.5204.E.1.b.iii allows funds to be deposited into the Tree Canopy Trust Fund detailed at Section 36.033, derived from the average current market value for the same species removed at Florida Grade #1 or greater quality, plus a 2.5 multiplier for installation. Section 155.5204.E.1.d allows payment in lieu equal to the appraised dollar value of the removed trees.

Three further costs attach to the work rather than to the trees. Section 155.5204.D.4.a requires a bond to insure the survival of trees designated for relocation, set from the dollar value given for each at time of permitting and additional to any other bond. Section 155.5204.I.2 requires a maintenance guarantee under Section 155.5902. Section 155.5204.B.3 doubles the application fee where a tree is removed before the permit is obtained.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Section 155.5204.E.1.b.iv covers trees removed before authorization whose value cannot be determined from any remnants. The city establishes that value using aerial photography, on-site inspection and review of a tree survey, and the canopy of the replacement trees at maturity shall at least equal the canopy removed. A table credits 300 square feet for a Type 1 tree of minimum twelve feet in height, 100 square feet for a Type 2 understory tree of minimum ten feet, and 50 square feet for a Type 3 palm of minimum fourteen feet.

Tree abuse runs on a separate track and reaches the landowner. Section 155.5204.G.1.a.ii states that no owner of land in the city shall cause or allow the abuse of any tree on that land, or possess an abused tree on that land. Section 155.5204.G.2.a then requires corrective action set by the Development Services Director, replacement trees, and a payment into the Tree Canopy Trust Fund, which Section 155.5204.G.2.b calls partial corrective action required to cure a violation, in addition to any penalties imposed under Article 8, Enforcement.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Two items decide whether a filing goes anywhere. The submitter has to be a Registered Broward County Tree Trimmer, and the package has to carry a tree survey and a tree assessment prepared by an ISA Certified Arborist or registered Florida landscape architect, giving the species, quantity, size, location, condition, status and value for each tree proposed to be preserved, relocated or removed. Section 155.5204.C.3 then bars damage to any other tree on the site unless a Tree Permit for that action is first obtained.

On a site under construction the protection standards are measurable, so ask for them in writing. Section 155.5204.F.2 requires fencing no closer than one linear foot outside the drip line and at least four feet high, with posts no more than ten feet on-center and warning signs no more than 150 feet apart, each a minimum of two feet by two feet, erected before grading begins and kept until after final landscaping inspection.

What to Do Next

Three questions settle the scope before anything is scheduled. Whether the work is removal, relocation, replacement or substantial alteration, land clearing, or demolition near a tree designated to be preserved. Whether any tree in scope is a specimen or historical tree, since that shifts replacement from caliper inches to an appraised dollar value. And whether relocation is viable, since Section 155.5204.D.1.a prefers relocation to replacement.

We settle all three before quoting. We inspect the trees, document species, size, condition and value to the standard Section 155.2411.C requires, prepare the arborist assessment, file through a Registered Broward County Tree Trimmer, install protection fencing and signage to the Section 155.5204.F standard, and plant replacements within the 60 days Section 155.5204.E.1.c allows. 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, hotels, multifamily rental, retail outparcels, marinas and municipal grounds. Call (954) 583-4752 or request a proposal.

TWQ Landscaping maintains commercial and community association property in Pompano Beach. See landscaping services in Pompano Beach.

The information presented on this page was accurate as of 9 September 2026.

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