Tree Removal Permits in Tequesta

Tequesta regulates trees by category rather than by size. Section 50-265 covers historic, specimen, native and endangered trees, and it does more than control removal. No person shall trim any of those trees without first receiving written permission of the village manager. A native tree standing on a common area is inside that sentence, so a trimming visit is work that needs a signature before a crew starts. 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?

There are two separate regimes here and they reach different trees. Section 50-233 applies to any parcel of land located within the village. A commercial site, an association common area, a condominium parcel, a hotel or an institutional campus falls inside it on the general terms. That section names trees required pursuant to an approved site plan or landscape plan, and trees required by Village Code Chapter 78, Article IX, Division 4, Landscaping.

The second regime works by tree category. Section 50-265 names historic, specimen, native and endangered trees, and it binds any person acting directly or indirectly. Because it is written around category, the question on a given tree is what the tree is, not how large it has grown. Species identification is what settles it, which is why a current inventory of the site is worth having before a scope of work is written.

The residential position is worth knowing, because a board member may be asked about it. For a detached single-family residence, Florida Statutes Section 163.045 remains available on documentation from an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect. The two Palm Beach County articles we read do not create a general permit to remove an ordinary tree, so on a removal in Tequesta the village rule is the one that governs. Our Palm Beach County guide sets out the county position.

What Needs a Permit

Section 50-233 is written as a prohibition with a permit attached. It is unlawful for any person to remove, damage, or destroy any tree required by an approved site plan or landscape plan, or required by the Chapter 78 landscaping division. That prohibition runs prior to obtaining a tree removal and replacement permit from the village. Damage sits in the list next to removal and destruction. Work that harms a plan required tree is inside the section even when the tree is left standing.

Section 50-265(a) covers the designated categories, and the route there runs through two bodies. No person shall cut down, remove or move, or effectively destroy through damage, any historic, specimen, native or endangered tree except after written permission. That permission is obtained by application to and after a hearing before the planning and zoning board acting as the tree board. The board recommendation is then forwarded with the application for review by the village council. A hearing followed by a council review runs in weeks rather than days.

The same subsection adds a second requirement, and it runs through the village manager instead. No person shall trim any historic, specimen, native or endangered tree without first receiving written permission of the village manager. That attaches to trimming rather than removal, which is a low bar to cross on ordinary maintenance work. The code also treats a tree materially altered in character through illegal trimming the same way it treats one that was taken down.

Section 50-265(b) provides for public safety. A designated tree can become dangerous to the public health, welfare or safety and require removal without delay in the interest of public safety. In that case the village manager may authorize the removal and shall promptly report the action to the village council. The village manager may also authorize trimming or pruning where satisfied that the work will not adversely affect the life or health of the tree.

What It Costs

The obligation that decides a budget here is the replacement of the tree. Section 50-265 requires any person found guilty of a violation of that subsection to replace the tree. That covers a tree damaged, removed or materially altered in character through illegal trimming. The replacement is, to the extent possible, a tree of like size and kind. The obligation is measured against the tree that was lost, so on a mature designated tree the exposure is set by the tree itself.

Failure to replace the tree may result in a daily fine for each day the violation occurs. An unresolved replacement obligation therefore keeps accruing rather than settling at a single figure. The village publishes its permit fees in a Land Development Fee Schedule at Appendix D, which sits outside the tree sections of the code. We confirm the current amount with the village before quoting rather than putting a figure on this page that we cannot cite to the schedule itself.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

The code sets its own enforcement posture. Violations of this division are presumed to be irreparable and irreversible. That presumption does real work. That classification is the one a code enforcement board works from under Florida Statutes chapter 162, so we confirm the current exposure with the village rather than putting a figure against it. Here the code presumes the classification rather than leaving the village to establish it, so the higher ceiling is the starting point.

Section 50-265 also preserves a civil route. Nothing in the section precludes the village from seeking relief by civil action through mandatory injunctive relief. Alongside that, the replacement of the tree is part of the penalty rather than a separate remedy, and the daily fine attaches to failing to carry it out. Illegal trimming that materially alters a tree in character sits inside the same provision.

What to Check With Your Contractor

Three questions are worth putting to a contractor before a crew arrives on a Tequesta property. Whether any tree in the scope is historic, specimen, native or endangered, because that answer decides whether trimming needs written permission. Whether any tree in the scope was required by an approved site plan or landscape plan, which puts it under Section 50-233. And whether the written permission or the tree removal and replacement permit is in hand rather than applied for.

That last point matters because Section 50-265 reaches a person acting directly or indirectly. Instructing a crew is inside the prohibition. A board that approves a trimming scope on a native tree without the village manager written permission stands alongside the contractor who carries the work out. Ask to see the permission before the work is scheduled rather than after.

What to Do Next

Before tree work is scheduled in Tequesta, three things are worth settling. Which trees on the property fall into the historic, specimen, native or endangered categories, because that decides whether trimming needs the village manager written permission. Which trees were required by an approved site plan or landscape plan, because those carry the Section 50-233 requirement. And whether the schedule can absorb a tree board hearing and a council review.

We settle all three before quoting. We inspect the trees, identify species and condition, and prepare the arborist report where the application calls for one. We apply for the village manager written permission where trimming a designated tree is in scope. We file the tree removal and replacement permit where a plan required tree is involved, and we confirm the current fee with the village. 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 23 August 2026.

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