Do you need a permit to remove a tree in Palm Coast?

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

Yes, for any tree with a trunk 6 inches or more across, measured 4.5 feet above the ground, or 4 inches and up if the tree is surveyed for credit. Palm Coast’s Urban Forestry office issues the permit, replacement trees may be required, and a documented hazard tree on a lot with a home can come out without one. Sunward Palm Coast Land Clearing plans the tree list before any clearing, because the permit sets the order of the work.

What the rule covers

Chapter 11 of Palm Coast’s Land Development Code requires a tree removal permit to cut down, remove, damage or destroy by pruning any tree with a trunk caliper of 6 inches or more at diameter breast height, which the code places at 4.5 feet above grade. A tree surveyed for credit counts from 4 inches. The rule applies whether the tree comes down for a new house, a pool, a driveway or because the owner simply doesn’t want it.

Measuring is simple: wrap a tape around the trunk at 4.5 feet and divide by about 3.14, or ask a surveyor to note diameters on the survey. A tree that forks below 4.5 feet is a judgment call best left to Urban Forestry. On a lot being built on, the trees close to the footprint are the ones most often removed, as the lot clearing page explains.

We list every tree of permit size in our clearing scope with its trunk size, so your permit request matches what we’ll cut.

Who issues it and how

Permits run through the city’s Urban Forestry office, reachable at 386-986-3758. The same office’s inspection request form covers tree removal, hazard tree identification and wildfire hazard identification, and inspectors aim to call within a week. Permits are issued only to the property owner or to an agent the owner has authorized in writing, which matters when a contractor or builder is applying for you.

On a new home lot the tree list is part of the lot clearing permit: the survey or site plan shows every tree of 6 inches and over as kept or removed. The clearing permit can’t be issued until the house permit is, as the guide to clearing a lot to build explains.

Replacement trees and the tree bank

Removing permitted trees can carry a replacement requirement. Replacements are planted on the lot, or paid into the city’s tree bank instead. The city’s fee schedule lists $220 for a 2-inch caliper shade tree or a 1.5-inch understory tree, $275 for a sabal palm and $580 for a 3.5-inch shade tree.

New single-family homes also have a landscape requirement on the permit checklist of one tree for every 2,500 square feet of lot. Keeping healthy trees set back from the house is often simpler than planting replacements later, which is the case for selective clearing. Removing a tree without a permit can bring the replacement requirement anyway, and clearing a lot before its permit is issued carries a penalty of $1,000 or double the permit fee, whichever is higher. The cost guide puts these fees alongside clearing prices.

The hazard tree route

Florida Statute 163.045 limits what a city can require for one kind of tree. On residential property, meaning a single-family detached home on a lot actively used as one, a local government may not require a notice, application, permit, fee or mitigation to prune, trim or remove a tree when the owner has documentation from an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect that the tree poses an unacceptable risk to persons or property.

That covers the leaning pine over the bedroom or the hollow oak over the driveway. It doesn’t cover a vacant lot being cleared to build, and it depends on the written documentation, which is worth keeping.

Outside Palm Coast

Other governments in the area set different thresholds. Bunnell counts index trees such as oaks, maples and cypress per 2,500 square feet and leaves pines off its list. Unincorporated Flagler County requires a tree survey less than 24 months old with the building or development permit and protects specimen trees from 18 inches. Ormond Beach issues residential tree permits through its Neighborhood Improvement Division. Each service area page covers its own rules.

After the permit

Once a tree is down, the stump is pulled with its roots under a slab or driveway, or ground below grade elsewhere, as the stump grinding or removal guide explains. A replacement tree goes in a few feet away from a ground stump, not in the grindings.