Melbourne tree removal permits

Melbourne's rule is that no tree may be cut down, removed or destroyed without a permit unless an exemption applies, and one listed exemption covers trees on properties with existing one-, two- and three-family dwellings (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

The permit in question is a land alteration permit, administered by the Melbourne Engineering Department, and a separate application is filed for each site where tree removal is requested (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Trimming is treated differently: trees may be trimmed up to 20 percent of their canopy without a land alteration permit (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

For most Melbourne homeowners the key line is subsection (b)(5) of Section 9.272, which exempts trees located on properties with existing one-, two- and three-family dwellings from the section and the chapter, with no permit or fees required (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). The Melbourne Engineering Fees list says the same thing in its own terms, marking tree removal on existing one-, two- and three-family dwellings as EXEMPT and noting that the exemption is per Florida Statute.

One Melbourne page reads more broadly. The Melbourne Building Section FAQ lists tree removal and land disturbing activity among the kinds of work that require a permit, without mentioning the existing-home exemption, and gives the Building Department number 321-608-7915. Because the city's pages state the rule differently, a Melbourne owner can confirm with the Engineering Department at 321-608-7300 before cutting (Melbourne Engineering Department page).

Melbourne exempts its prohibited trees, nursery stock, trees the law requires to be removed, dangerous or non-viable trees and trees on existing one- to three-family home lots, and no permit or fee applies to them (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

The Melbourne list also names bishopwood, ear tree, chinaberry, poison wood, downy rose myrtle and castor bean, and it adds any tree listed as category I or II on the most recent Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Invasive Plant list (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Beyond prohibited species, Melbourne's exemptions cover trees grown for sale in state-licensed or governmental nurseries and botanical gardens, trees the law requires to be removed, and trees that are no longer viable, are in danger of falling, are too close to existing structures so as to endanger them, interfere with utility services, create unsafe vision clearance or are a safety hazard (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). When a hurricane, windstorm, flood or fire is approaching or has struck, the city manager or a designee may temporarily waive the section's requirements (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Habitat is the exception to the exceptions in Melbourne. No person may trim, remove or alter vegetation in a designated occupied scrub jay and gopher tortoise habitat area without approval from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, although non-native noxious species may be moved individually with Engineering Department approval (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

State law bars Melbourne and every other Florida local government from requiring a notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation to prune, trim or remove a residential tree when the owner has documentation that it poses an unacceptable risk (Florida Statutes Section 163.045).

For a Melbourne owner, the documentation must come from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture or a Florida licensed landscape architect, based on an onsite assessment under the Best Management Practices, Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017) procedures, and signed by that professional (Florida Statutes Section 163.045). A tree poses an unacceptable risk when removal is the only practical way to bring its risk below moderate under those procedures (Florida Statutes Section 163.045).

The statute defines residential property as a single-family, detached building on a lot actively used for single-family residential purposes, as a conforming use or a legally recognized nonconforming use, so it reaches Melbourne single-family homes (Florida Statutes Section 163.045). A city may not require replanting after a removal made under the statute, and the section does not apply to mangrove protection under the state's mangrove law (Florida Statutes Section 163.045). Melbourne's own exemption for trees on properties with existing one-, two- and three-family dwellings is written in Section 9.272 with no arborist documentation requirement (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

In Melbourne a grand tree is a cypress, oak or pine with at least a 30-inch trunk diameter at breast height, and no person may cut down, remove, relocate or damage one except under narrow exemptions (tree article; Section 9.272).

Melbourne measures diameter at breast height at four and one-half feet above grade, and a multi-stemmed tree with a union of wood above grade counts as a grand tree when the stems added together reach at least a 45-inch diameter (Melbourne Land Development Code, Section 9.271 definitions, in the tree protection article). Grand trees are protected without regard to their location or the date of final development approval (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

The community development director or a designee exempts a Melbourne grand tree when it is in advanced stages of decline, when it sits where a permitted principal structure or required improvement must go and the applicant has made every effort to design around it, or when it is causing substantial structural or infrastructural damage that root barriers or trimming cannot fix (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Staff may ask a certified arborist to confirm decline (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Grand trees that are successfully preserved during construction may have their DBH-inches credited toward tree removal fees for other trees on the same site (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Topping is prohibited in Melbourne: the definitions describe it as cutting limbs to stubs larger than three inches in diameter within the crown so as to remove the normal canopy, and state that the practice is strictly prohibited (Melbourne Land Development Code, Section 9.271 definitions, in the tree protection article).

Melbourne tree removal permits start with the Engineering Department's application for tree removal and underbrush clearing, and the fees are billed through EnerGov and must be paid before the permit issues (Melbourne tree removal and underbrush clearing application).

The Melbourne application, dated April 29, 2025, asks for the number of trees and palms to be removed or relocated with a detailed list giving species and diameter at breast height for every tree of 4 inches and greater, and all palms with a clear trunk of 6 feet and greater by quantity (Melbourne tree removal and underbrush clearing application). Applicants attach a map or aerial of the site and a legal description; development or redevelopment sites also need a certified tree survey and site plan at identical scale (Melbourne tree removal and underbrush clearing application). Packages go to the Melbourne Engineering Department at 900 E. Strawbridge Avenue, 321-608-7300, [email protected] (Melbourne tree removal and underbrush clearing application).

On Melbourne building sites the tree removal sketch is submitted at engineering construction plan review for non-residential development, or at building permit review for individual residential lots (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Speculative clearing is not permitted: an applicant needs a building permit or engineering construction plan approval before city staff authorize clearing, and a site with no trees files a notarized no tree affidavit instead of an inventory (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Melbourne can cite both the property owner or developer and the person who removed the tree, with each day out of compliance treated as a separate violation and the owner required to replace the tree (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Replacement in Melbourne is with trees of the same type and size where possible; otherwise each illegally removed tree is replaced with a tree or trees whose cumulative trunk diameter is equal to or greater than the inches removed, every replacement tree must be at least 12 feet high, and a native list tree must be replaced with a native list tree (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). No certificate of occupancy or completion issues until the replacement is done (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Cases go to the Melbourne code enforcement board, and all work may be stopped pending its decision (Melbourne Land Development Code, Section 9.277, in the tree protection article). The Melbourne Building Section FAQ adds that starting work without a permit could bring a penalty of 100% of the usual permit fee.

Melbourne can also order a dangerous tree down. The Code Compliance Division may require removal of a tree that is or will become unsafe, and an owner who has not removed it 48 hours after notice, and has not appealed to the zoning board of adjustment, risks the city removing it and charging the cost, with a lien if the bill goes unpaid for 30 days (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272).

Interpretations by the Melbourne community development department can be appealed to the zoning board of adjustment within a reasonable time not to exceed 60 days, with public notice at least 15 days before the hearing (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.276). The article was rewritten by Ordinance No. 2025-19 of April 8, 2025 (Melbourne Land Development Code Section 9.272). Yard waste pickup after a removal is covered in the Melbourne trash and recycling guide.

Last verified: October 21, 2026, by re-reading Melbourne's tree protection article (Sections 9.271 to 9.277), the Engineering tree removal application, the Engineering Fees list, the Engineering Department page, the Building Section FAQ and Florida Statutes Section 163.045.