Tree Removal Permits in Surfside
Surfside did not write its own tree ordinance. Section 82-1 adopts the current Metropolitan Dade County Tree Ordinance as the tree ordinance for the town, as same may be amended from time to time. Read that last clause carefully, because the adoption is dynamic: when the county amends its ordinance the Surfside standard moves with it, without the town passing anything. What applied to a property here two years ago is not necessarily what applies today. 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 90-97 requires tree removal and relocation permits, and native plant community vegetation removal permits, prior to the removal or relocation of trees, specimen trees, or any vegetation. It is written about the vegetation rather than the property type, so a condominium parcel, an association common area, a commercial site and an institutional campus are read on the same terms.
Note the reach of the words any vegetation. That is broader than a tree rule, so clearing understory, shrub material or a hedge line on a Surfside property is a question to settle rather than one to assume falls outside the section.
Because the standard is the county's, the substance lives on our Miami-Dade County guide: how the permit reaches every property, how replacement is calculated by canopy area rather than tree count, what the single-family yard exemption turns on, and the construction protection standard. On a Surfside job that guide is the operative document and this page is the local overlay.
What Needs a Permit
One thing this page will not tell you is which counter to walk into, because the town code answers it twice and differently. Section 82-1 provides that the town manager shall enforce the section and shall issue tree removal permits as authorized by the Dade County Code. Section 90-97 provides that the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management is responsible for administering and enforcing these provisions.
Both sentences are in the published code and both were read from it. We establish which body is actually taking Surfside applications before filing, rather than picking the reading that suits a schedule. Filing with the wrong office is not a small error here, because the county process carries its own timeline and a misdirected application does not start it.
On the section number, expect to see two. Surfside cites the county ordinance as sections 24-60 through 24-60.9, while the county permit provisions we read sit at section 24-49 and following. Both numbers are in circulation for the same body of rules, and the county's own landscape ordinance also uses 24-60, so a document citing one and a code citing the other is not necessarily a contradiction. We cite the county provision by what it requires rather than by the number until that is settled.
What It Costs
The money follows the standard, so the county page carries it. The number that decides a budget there is the replacement obligation rather than the fee: replacement is calculated by canopy area in square feet rather than by counting trees, and a specimen tree doubles it. Two defined routes reduce that obligation, and both are set out on the county guide.
On the fee itself we quote nothing. County tree permit fees are set by separate administrative order approved by the Board of County Commissioners rather than printed in the code, so the amount comes from the county before it reaches a proposal. Whether the town adds a charge of its own is part of the same question as which office issues the permit, and we settle both together.
What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit
The enforcement exposure follows the standard as well, and the county guide describes it. The county makes it unlawful to do tree removal work or to effectively destroy any tree without its permit, and that reaches work which leaves a trunk standing.
One prohibition is the town's own and stands regardless of who administers the permit. Section 90-97 provides that tree abuse including hack racking is prohibited within the town. That is a standing rule about how a tree is cut rather than a condition attached to a permit, so it binds a maintenance visit that involves no removal at all.
What to Check With Your Contractor
Ask whether the pruning scope could be characterized as hatracking, and ask before the crew is booked rather than after the cuts are made. The town names the practice in its own prohibition, so on a Surfside property this is a compliance question rather than a matter of arboricultural taste.
On a site with construction underway, ask about the barriers. Section 90-97 requires tree protection barriers during site development to preserve existing and relocated trees. That duty is expressly tied to site development rather than to an ordinary maintenance visit, so it attaches when the site is being built on and the county specification is the one to build them to.
And ask which permit a proposal is actually pulling, and from whom. Given that the town code names two different authorities, a proposal that does not say which office it is filing with has left the schedule question open.
What to Do Next
Three things settle a Surfside job before it is priced. Which office is taking the application, since the code names two. What the county standard currently requires, since the town adopted it dynamically and it moves without local action. And whether anything in scope is vegetation rather than a tree, since the section reaches any vegetation.
We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees and vegetation, document species, size and condition, confirm the filing route with the town and the county, obtain the current fee, prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one, and install protection barriers to the county specification where site development is underway. 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 Surfside. See landscaping services in Surfside.
The information presented on this page was accurate as of 24 August 2026.
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