Tree Removal Permits in Virginia Gardens

Virginia Gardens licenses the tree service as well as regulating the tree. Section 14-112 binds any person, entity or corporation which, for compensation or fee, plants, transplants, removes, prunes, trims, repairs or performs surgery upon a tree, and it requires them to work to current Arboricultural Industry Standards, being ANSI A-300, and to be duly licensed and insured as a tree service or arborist. On a property here, who you hire is part of the compliance question rather than a separate commercial decision. 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 14-112 is written to the party doing the work rather than to the property, so every property type in the village is reached on the same terms. It is worth reading its scope carefully, because it names planting and transplanting alongside removal, pruning, trimming, repair and tree surgery. An installation crew putting stock in the ground is inside the article, which is broader than a code that reaches only cutting.

The article also states that by performing services of that nature within the village, a firm agrees to be bound by its terms and conditions. That is a consent written into the act of working here rather than into a form anyone signs.

The county layer sits behind all of it. Miami-Dade County Section 24-49(4)(a) sets the position on ordinary yard trees at an existing single-family residence, on conditions our Miami-Dade County guide sets out, and a municipality is entitled to be stricter than the county. Which rule governs a particular house is settled with the village before anyone advises on it.

What Needs a Permit

Start with who is entitled to ask. An owner, an agent of the owner, or a lessee of a property may apply for a tree removal permit. Where the applicant is a lessee or an agent rather than the owner, a statement from the owner indicating that the owner has no objection to the proposed tree removal is submitted with the application. On a leased commercial site or a managed property, that statement is a scheduling item rather than a formality, because it has to come from the owner rather than from whoever holds the maintenance contract.

The application itself asks for the reasons for the requested removal, the tree size and tree caliper, and the common name of the tree. It is accompanied by a diagram or plan showing the trees to be removed together with the locations of all existing tree resources and all proposed structures or utilities. Where that diagram is not enough to establish which trees are affected, the department may require a full tree survey, so a thin drawing can convert into a survey after filing.

The drawing standard then splits by property type, and the gap between the two is wide. For single-family and duplex home properties, a drawing of the location of the tree or palm being removed and its species is acceptable. For tree removal applications of all other zoning and property types within the village, a landscape plan is required, with tree disposition and tree replacement pages, following industry standards for plan specifications, plant lists and plan drawings. A commercial or association site is therefore producing a designed document rather than a sketch.

A specimen tree adds arithmetic to that document. The application carries the required tree data and calculations for mitigation, and further calculations for the additional equivalent value provided in a tree disposition worksheet, to be reviewed by the village. Establishing specimen status early is what keeps that work inside the design phase rather than adding it after a submission comes back.

What It Costs

The village sets its money by resolution rather than in the code. Section 14-116 has the village establish, by resolution, a fee schedule for all matters relating to tree removal, relocation, replacement, monetary contribution and all administrative reviews. That means the amounts are obtained from the village rather than read from the ordinance, and it also means the schedule can move without the code text changing. We obtain the current schedule before quoting.

Note what that schedule covers, because it is wider than a filing fee. It reaches relocation, replacement and monetary contribution as well as administrative reviews, so on a site with mitigation the fee schedule and the replacement obligation are two separate lines to establish rather than one.

On a specimen tree the mitigation calculation and the additional equivalent value calculation are what decide the number, and both are produced by the applicant for village review rather than assessed by the village from a table. That puts the quality of the arborist report directly into the cost.

What Happens If It Is Done Without a Permit

Section 14-117 sets the route. Violations of the provisions and requirements of the article are prosecuted on behalf of the village by the code enforcement department, before the code enforcement board, in accordance with its rules, regulations and procedures. So the forum is a board hearing rather than an administrative citation, which means notice, a hearing and a record.

No dollar amount is stated in Section 14-117 or elsewhere in the sections we read, so we give none. We obtain the village's current position before work is scheduled rather than quoting an exposure we cannot stand behind.

What to Check With Your Contractor

This section carries more weight in Virginia Gardens than the heading usually implies, because the village asks for the contractor's paperwork as part of your application. Where a tree service or arborist is performing the services, the application carries that firm's full name and address, together with copies of its current active permits, licenses and certificate of insurance, along with the nature of the services and the commencement and completion dates.

Ask for those documents before a job is booked rather than after a proposal is signed. A firm that cannot produce current active permits, licenses and a certificate of insurance on request cannot complete your application, and the delay lands on your schedule rather than on theirs. We supply ours with the filing as a matter of course.

Then check the standard the work is written to. Section 14-112 requires compliance, in performing the work, with current Arboricultural Industry Standards, being ANSI A-300. That makes the pruning specification a license condition here rather than a matter of preference, so a proposal that does not name a standard is a proposal that has not engaged with the article. The same section requires any permit to be on display, and requires the firm to be duly licensed and insured as a tree service or arborist, including any current requirements to do business within the county.

What to Do Next

Three things settle a Virginia Gardens job before it is priced. Whether the property is single-family or duplex, since everything else needs a landscape plan with tree disposition and replacement pages rather than a drawing. Whether any tree in scope is a specimen, since that adds mitigation and equivalent value calculations to the submission. And whether your contractor can produce current permits, licenses and a certificate of insurance for the filing.

We settle those before quoting. We inspect the trees and record species, size and caliper, prepare the tree disposition and replacement plan where the property type calls for one, produce the mitigation and equivalent value calculations on a specimen tree, file our own permits, licenses and insurance certificate with the application, and work to the ANSI A-300 standard the license condition requires. 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 24 August 2026.

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