# How do you clear a Palm Coast lot to build a house?

> How a Palm Coast lot goes from wooded to slab-ready: the house permit first, the clearing permit and tree survey, tortoises, wet ground, swales and debris.

URL: https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/clearing-a-palm-coast-lot-to-build/

Learn

The order the city sets, what each permit asks for, and the parts of the job that decide whether the slab crew starts on time.

Last Updated: November 8, 2026 · Written by Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing

To clear a Palm Coast lot for a new house, wait for the home’s building permit, then get the lot clearing permit with a survey that marks every tree of 6 inches and up as kept or removed. Put up silt fence, clear and grub the house footprint, deal with the debris without burning, and leave the swale clean for the engineered grading that follows. This is the order [Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/) works to on every Palm Coast lot.

**In short**

- No clearing or tree removal until the house permit is issued; clearing early costs $1,000 or double the permit fee, whichever is higher.
- The one exception is a vacant lot next to a home you own, tied to it by a binding lot agreement.
- Trees 6 inches and over at 4.5 feet need a permit; replacements may be planted or paid at $220 to $580 per tree.
- Work within 25 feet of a gopher tortoise burrow needs an FWC permit first.
- Burning is effectively ruled out on a street of homes, so debris is mulched or hauled.

## Why clearing waits for the house permit

Palm Coast was planned as a city of tens of thousands of home sites, and a lot of them are still wooded: 11,014 vacant residential parcels averaging about 0.31 acre in the current tax roll. The city does not want those lots stripped bare and left. Its guidance for new builders says it plainly: you cannot begin to clear or remove any trees until the building permit for the home has been issued, and erosion control has to be in place.

There is one exception. If you own a home in Palm Coast and [the vacant lot directly beside it](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/adjacent-lot-clearing/), that lot can be cleared before any new house is permitted, provided both lots are in the same ownership and bound by a binding lot agreement. In the city’s words, to make changes before getting a building permit you must own both the vacant lot and the neighboring lot that already has a permitted structure.

Clearing without the permit is expensive. The city’s fee schedule charges $1,000 or double the permit fee, whichever is higher, for a lot cleared before the permit is issued, and trees removed without approval can bring replacement requirements on top. The [lot assessment](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/tools/land-clearing-assessment/) walks through which of these permits and checks apply to a given lot.

## What the lot clearing permit asks for

Once the house permit is issued, the clearing itself is permitted on its own application. It asks for:

- The application and a scope of work.
- A notarized authorized-agent form if someone other than the owner applies.
- A survey or site plan showing every tree 6 inches and over, marked to be removed or kept.
- A grading plan that drains the lot back to front.
- All disturbed areas sodded or seeded when the work is done.

The survey is the document everything else hangs from. It shows the house footprint, the driveway and the setbacks, and with the trees marked on it, it becomes the keep and remove list we work to during [lot clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/lot-clearing/).

## Trees: what needs a permit and what replacing them costs

Palm Coast requires a [tree removal permit](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/palm-coast-tree-removal-permit/) to cut down, remove or damage any tree with a trunk of 6 inches or more measured 4.5 feet above the ground, or 4 inches and up if the tree is being surveyed for credit. Permits run through the city’s Urban Forestry office, whose inspectors aim to call within a week of an inspection request, and permits are issued only to the owner or a written agent.

Replacement trees may be required. They can be planted, or paid into the city’s tree bank at $220 for a 2-inch shade tree or 1.5-inch understory tree, $275 for a sabal palm and $580 for a 3.5-inch shade tree. Separately, the city’s landscape requirement for a new single-family home is one tree for every 2,500 square feet of lot, which is four trees on a 10,000-square-foot lot. That makes the decision about which trees to keep a money decision as well as a shade decision.

Keeping a tree means protecting its roots. Fence it at the drip line or beyond, keep tracked machines, fill and debris piles outside the fence, and do the clearing close to the trunk with saws rather than a mulcher, as in [selective clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/selective-clearing/).

Florida Statute 163.045 offers a different route for a tree that is dangerous, but only on a lot with a home on it. There, a local government cannot require a permit or fee to remove a tree when the owner has documentation from an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect that it poses an unacceptable risk. It does not apply to a vacant lot being cleared to build.

## Wildlife: gopher tortoises

[Gopher tortoises](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/gopher-tortoise-before-clearing/) and their burrows are protected by state law. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission requires a relocation permit before any work within 25 feet of a burrow; if every part of the clearing stays 25 feet away, no permit is needed. A burrow is a half-moon opening in dry sand, usually with a fan of loose soil in front, and they are found on the better-drained sand rather than in wet flatwoods.

A burrow in the house footprint changes the schedule, because a survey and relocation by an FWC-authorized agent come before any clearing. We walk the lot for burrows well before the permit date, so there is time to deal with one. Federally listed species have also shaped clearing in Flagler County, with a habitat conservation plan for the Florida scrub-jay and eastern indigo snake on one coastal development.

## Wet ground and the rainy season

Palm Coast averages 51.44 inches of rain a year at its NOAA station, and 26.27 inches of that, about half, falls from June through September. Soil survey samples across the city find Smyrna and Myakka fine sands that are poorly drained, with the wet-season water table within about a foot of the surface, and depressional soils near Belle Terre that are mapped as ponded.

On wet flatwoods sand a loaded machine ruts the ground and slows down, and a day of clearing can stretch into several (see [clearing in the rainy season](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/clearing-land-in-rainy-season/) and [how long land clearing takes](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/how-long-does-land-clearing-take/)). Some lots also hold water often enough to raise the [wetland question](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/clearing-near-wetlands-florida/): clearing or filling a wetland can need an environmental resource permit, from the St. Johns River Water Management District where it permitted the subdivision and otherwise possibly from the Florida DEP. Online maps give only a general indication; the boundary is set on site.

## The swale, the silt fence and grading

Palm Coast drains its streets through roadside swales, and the city’s engineering staff design a swale and culvert plan for each new home from its survey. The owner is responsible for keeping the swale clear. During clearing, silt fence along the front keeps sand out of it, and the city requires that fence to stay in place for the whole of construction, through sod and landscaping. A disturbed swale is sodded with bahia grass; the rest of the sequence is in [what to do after land clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/after-land-clearing/).

Grading is [a separate step from clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/land-clearing-vs-grading/). A new home needs a grading and drainage plan from a Florida professional engineer, most lots must drain from the rear to the front swale, nothing may drain onto a neighbor, and for permits applied for from July 1, 2025 the final lot grading has to be certified. Regrading with heavy equipment such as graders, dozers or skid steers needs its own lot regrading permit.

## Stumps and grubbing under the slab

Under the house, the driveway and the pad, stumps and roots come out. Buried wood rots, leaves voids and lets concrete settle, and roots near the surface lift driveways. [Grubbing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/clearing-and-grubbing/) pulls the stumps, root mats and dark organic layer down to clean sand in the footprint. Outside it, stumps are usually [ground below grade](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/stump-grinding/) or left, which keeps the sand covered and protects the roots of the trees being kept.

Because grubbing is digging, buried lines should be located through Florida’s 811 system first. On a Palm Coast lot served by city water and sewer, the service lines run in from the street side, the same side as the swale.

## Debris: why it isn’t burned

Florida allows [pile burning of land clearing debris](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/burning-land-clearing-debris-flagler-county/) only as authorized open burning under the Florida Forest Service, and the setbacks rule it out on almost every Palm Coast lot: residential piles must be 300 feet from any occupied building other than the owner’s, 100 feet from paved public roads and 50 feet from brush, unless all affected parties agree in writing. Flagler County also declares county-wide burn bans during drought.

That leaves grinding brush and small wood into [mulch that stays on the lot](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/forestry-mulching/), and hauling logs and stumps away. Neighboring Volusia and Putnam counties charge about $31 a ton for yard trash, so where we take the loads and how far is part of the price.

## What it costs

Our typical range for clearing a quarter-acre lot is $800 to $3,000, with heavy lots that need stumps pulled and debris hauled running above it. The survey, the permits and any tree bank payments are separate. The full breakdown, with the parts of the price and the city’s fees, is in the [Palm Coast land clearing cost guide](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/land-clearing-cost-palm-coast/).

## Outside Palm Coast city limits

The rules above are Palm Coast’s. Bunnell has its own Tree Removal/Land Clearing Permit Request through the city building department and counts replacement from an index tree list that leaves out pines. In unincorporated Flagler County, clearing is authorized through the building or development permit with a tree survey less than 24 months old, and firewise clearing done to Florida Forest Service standards is exempt. Flagler Beach reviews clearing and grading for a fee and fines tree removal done without approval. See the [Bunnell](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/service-areas/bunnell/), [unincorporated Flagler County](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/service-areas/flagler-county/) and [Flagler Beach](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/service-areas/flagler-beach/) pages for each.

Clearing a lot to build?

Send the address or parcel number, the survey if it shows the trees, and the date of the house permit if you have it.

## Three more questions

### Can I clear my Palm Coast lot now and build later?

No, unless you own the house lot next door and the two are tied together with a binding lot agreement. Otherwise clearing and tree removal wait for the home's building permit, and clearing before it carries a penalty of $1,000 or double the permit fee, whichever is higher.

### Does my builder handle the clearing?

Some builders include it and some leave it to the owner. Either way the same permits apply, and the lot clearing permit is issued to the owner or an agent with written, notarized authorization.

### How much of the lot has to be cleared?

Only what the house, driveway, utilities and grading need, plus whatever else you choose to open. The survey marks every tree of 6 inches and up as kept or removed, and the city's landscape requirement calls for one tree for every 2,500 square feet of lot.

Clearing a lot to build?

Call, or send the address or parcel number, what you plan to build or keep, and whether the building permit has been applied for.

[(386) 465-4658](tel:+13864654658)

- **Mon-Fri**: 8am-6pm
- **Sat-Sun**: 9am-2pm

Outside these hours, emergency calls only.

Further reading

## More guides on clearing a lot

- [Cost GuideWhat land clearing costs in Palm Coast](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/land-clearing-cost-palm-coast/)
- [LearnPalm Coast tree removal permits](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/palm-coast-tree-removal-permit/)
- [LearnGopher tortoises and clearing a lot](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/gopher-tortoise-before-clearing/)
- [LearnWhat to do after land clearing](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/after-land-clearing/)
- [LearnHow long land clearing takes](https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/guide/how-long-does-land-clearing-take/)

## Contact Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing

- Phone: [(386) 465-4658](tel:+13864654658)
- Email: [office@sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com](mailto:office@sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com)
- Address: 18 Market Ave, Palm Coast, FL 32164
- Hours: Monday to Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am-2pm (America/New_York). Outside these hours, emergency calls only.
- Request an estimate: https://sunwardpalmcoastlandclearing.com/contact/#estimate