Tree removal permits — Palm Bay, Florida

Yes in most cases: Palm Bay requires a tree removal permit for any tree measuring six inches or more in trunk diameter at breast height, and for palms with four and a half feet of clear wood.

Section 175.014 of the Palm Bay Land Development Code makes it unlawful without first securing a permit to remove, destroy, cut down or damage any such tree, with clear wood on a palm measured from the ground to the base of the first fronds (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014). The same Palm Bay permit is required for any land clearing on residential lots of less than one acre, so clearing a vacant residential lot of under an acre is covered even before a single large tree is touched.

The rule reaches every corner of Palm Bay. Section 175.010 applies it to all lands within city limits, including publicly owned lands, rights-of-way and easements, and declares it unlawful to remove, destroy, cut down or damage existing trees or habitat except as the chapter allows. The chapter's stated purpose is the enhancement, preservation and protection of the city's existing tree canopy (Palm Bay LDC Chapter 175, Part 1).

The Palm Bay Code Compliance Division describes the rule more narrowly on its top violations page, which says a permit for removal of trees on commercial and residential parcels over one acre is also required (Palm Bay Code Compliance). The adopted Chapter 175 text sets the six-inch trigger without a lot-size floor, and lists its own exceptions, covered below. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay website and its posted Chapter 175 text.

Palm Bay exempts farms, nurseries, public land, permitted development sites and developed homes whose owners hold arborist risk documentation, plus emergencies and declared disasters.

The exceptions in Section 175.014(A) cover bona fide agricultural uses, cultivation or grazing lands; commercial nursery sites; publicly owned lands, provided the work complies with the Municipal Tree Code or serves habitat management or restoration; and undeveloped multi-family, commercial, industrial or institutional Palm Bay sites with a recently approved site plan and a valid Site Work Permit (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(A)). Developed single- and two-family lots are exempt when they meet Florida Statute 163.045 and give the city the documentation it requires.

That state law carries real weight for Palm Bay homeowners. Section 163.045 bars a local government from requiring a notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation for removing a tree on residential property if the owner possesses documentation from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture or a Florida licensed landscape architect that the tree poses an unacceptable risk (Section 163.045, Florida Statutes). Under subsection (3) the owner cannot be required to replant that tree, and subsection (4) leaves specifically delegated mangrove protection authority untouched.

Palm Bay adds three situational exceptions on page 175-4 of the code. Species the code lists as prohibited may be removed after approval by the City Manager or designee; a tree that poses an immediate threat to persons or property may come down on on-site verbal authorization from the City Manager or designee; and after a Declaration of a Public Emergency caused by a hurricane or other natural disaster, the provisions may be suspended (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(A)(6)-(8)).

A Palm Bay tree removal permit costs a $25.00 flat fee per parcel and needs the deed, a signed hold harmless agreement and a site sketch showing every tree on the lot.

Section 175.014(B) lists the Palm Bay application items: the fee, a recorded deed showing the current owner, a hold harmless agreement initialed and signed by the owner, and a letter of authorization when someone other than the owner applies (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(B)). The site sketch must show existing and proposed features such as structures, roads and surface waters, the diameter at breast height and species of all trees on the entire parcel, which trees are proposed for removal, any replacement trees, and the reasons for removal.

The fee comes from Exhibit A of Resolution 2025-34, adopted by the Palm Bay City Council for fiscal year 2025-26 and effective October 1, 2025 (Palm Bay Resolution 2025-34).

Reviewers may ask for more on a Palm Bay lot. When there is a question of tree hazard, the applicant may be required to provide documentation from a certified arborist, and a single- or two-family lot under an acre that is being cleared for development must have the necessary building permit already under review, with its application number on the request. On single- and two-family properties, an approved removal may require replacement plantings to keep the lot in line with Section 175.021.

A Palm Bay tree permit remains valid for six months and may be renewed for a second six-month period if the renewal is requested before it expires (Palm Bay LDC section 175.011). Commercial and subdivision work runs through the Land Development Division, whose forms page posts the Site Work Permit (Tree Removal) form under Section 175.016 and a Tree Survey Worksheet, with submittals through the iMS Online Portal and questions to (321) 733-3042 (Palm Bay Land Development forms page).

Palm Bay reviews each request against a fixed list of justifications, led by hazards to people or traffic, Class I invasive species, and diseased, fallen or storm-weakened trees.

The removal criteria in Part 1 of Chapter 175 also accept likely damage to buildings, accessory structures, ponds, drainage canals or swales; replacement landscaping the applicant has planted or will plant; construction of improvements, including access for construction equipment (maximum of ten feet) and essential grade changes; and removal needed so the property can be used for a use allowed in its Palm Bay zoning district (Palm Bay LDC Chapter 175, removal criteria). Invasive species are those identified annually by the Florida Invasive Species Council.

The code also asks Palm Bay reviewers to consider alternative site plans that would let protected trees, specimen trees and native vegetation stay (Palm Bay LDC Chapter 175, page 175-2). Trees that stay during construction get a critical root zone equal to the trunk diameter in inches multiplied by twelve, marked by visible barricades no closer than that line or ten feet from the trunk, whichever is greater; for palms the zone is three feet from the trunk.

Keeping trees pays off on a Palm Bay homesite. New single- and two-family lots under one acre must have four trees and ten shrubs before a certificate of occupancy, with half the trees native canopy species (Palm Bay LDC section 175.021), and Section 175.014 credits each retained protected or specimen tree toward that count: three trees for a trunk of 6 to under 12 inches, four for 12 to under 20 inches, and five for 20 inches and larger (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(C)(5)).

Underbrush removal in Palm Bay needs a $25.00 grubbing permit, and clearing, filling or grading a development site needs a site work permit tied to an approved site plan.

Under Section 175.015, a grubbing permit covers hand clearing, roto-chopping or mulching in place, but it does not authorize clearing, scraping, balancing or filling land, or removing protected trees, specimen trees or mangroves (Palm Bay LDC section 175.015). Palm Bay exempts single- and two-family residential sites under an acre from the grubbing permit, along with any site where the area grubbed is a quarter acre or less.

Section 175.016 governs the larger Palm Bay jobs. A site work permit requires a city-stamped approved site plan, proof of outside agency permits, a tree survey drawn at no more than one inch to fifty feet, and a full environmental report that states whether the site lies within the protected Turkey Creek or Indian River Lagoon watersheds (Palm Bay LDC section 175.016). Single- and two-family sites with less than one acre are exempt from this permit, though the tree removal permit above still applies to them.

Palm Bay development sites replace what they cut. In addition to the trees the landscaping code already requires, one restoration tree is required for each six inches DBH of specimen trees (twelve inches DBH or more) approved for removal, and one replacement tree for each protected tree of six to under twelve inches (Palm Bay LDC section 175.016(D)). Restoration trees must be at least five inches DBH and fifteen feet tall; when trees are left off the landscape plan, the mitigation fees in the table apply instead.

Unpermitted removal in Palm Bay brings a stop work order or violation notice, a permit fee at twice the standard rate, and possible restoration planting or mitigation fees.

Section 175.014(D) gives the Palm Bay owner, contractor or agent one week to apply for the tree removal permit at a fee equal to twice the standard fee, and each failure to comply counts as an individual violation (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(D)). If a restoration plan is required, it is due within two weeks, and on a project under construction the certificate of occupancy is withheld until the Planning Division approves it.

The restoration math in Palm Bay follows tree size. The plan must show one restoration tree for each six inches of trunk diameter of specimen trees removed, and one replacement tree, at least two and a half inches DBH and twelve feet tall, for each protected tree removed. If replanting is not feasible, the specimen and protected tree mitigation fees are paid per tree; where a site was cleared and little evidence remains, the code charges four restoration trees per quarter acre of disturbed area (Palm Bay LDC section 175.014(D)(2)).

Deadlines are enforced through the Palm Bay Special Magistrate: if restoration is not done on the approved schedule, each day out of compliance is a violation presented to the Special Magistrate. A denied tree removal, grubbing or site work permit may be appealed under Section 172.014 with a written request to the City Manager or designee (Palm Bay LDC section 175.013). Separately, the Code Compliance Division expects improved Palm Bay property to be kept free of dead or fallen trees under Section 93.03.