Satellite Beach trees, landscaping and irrigation rules

Satellite Beach requires a permit before a property owner removes or relocates a protected tree (Satellite Beach Code 30-702(c)), though state law waives it on single-family homes with an arborist or landscape architect's risk finding (Section 163.045, Florida Statutes).

The Satellite Beach removal rule gives the building official a relocation option: as a condition of the permit, the owner may be required to let the city or its designee move the tree at the city's or designee's expense, done in a timely way that causes no more than minimal delay to development on the site (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(c)(1)). Removal can also become mandatory. Owners must remove within 60 days any tree or shrub that has died or become severely diseased or damaged, the city may order the removal of any problem tree, shrub or part of one, and if a removal drops the lot below the division's minimum count of trees and shrubs, a replacement must be planted within 30 days after removal (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(c)).

The state exception is narrow but firm for Satellite Beach homeowners. Section 163.045 bars a local government from requiring a notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation for pruning, trimming or removing a tree on residential property if 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; the city also may not require the tree to be replanted (Section 163.045, Florida Statutes). The statute defines residential property as a single-family, detached building on a lot actively used for single-family residential purposes, and counts a tree as an unacceptable risk only if removal is the only practical way to bring its risk below moderate under the 2017 tree risk assessment best management practices. It does not apply to delegated mangrove protection.

Satellite Beach required Brazilian pepper, melaleuca and Australian pine to be removed from all properties in the city on or before January 8, 2016, as non-native, noxious, invasive species (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-706).

The Satellite Beach nuisance tree section carves out one exception: melaleuca trees with a diameter of eight inches or greater at breast height on October 7, 2015 did not have to come down, but if the building official finds any melaleuca propagating, it must be removed within 60 days of notice from the city (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-706(b)). Beyond those three species, any plant on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's most current invasive list must be removed from a Satellite Beach property during development or redevelopment and may not be used in landscapes (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(a)(4)).

The city practices the same rule on its own land. The Satellite Beach sustainability page describes an invasive species and native habitat restoration program across the beach shorelines, Samsons Island, the Sports Park and other city-owned natural lands, removing invasive plants and replanting with Florida-native species, and it singles out Scaevola taccada as a Category I invasive the city is removing (Sustainable Satellite page). Gopher tortoises, listed on that page as a threatened species under Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rules, get particular management and protection on Samsons Island and at Desoto Sports Park, where staff use invasive plant management, habitat restoration and monitoring (Sustainable Satellite page).

Each Satellite Beach lot must hold at least one tree and five shrubs for each 2,000 square feet of lot area, with at least half of them between the house and any abutting street (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(a)(5)).

Every row comes from the Satellite Beach landscaping section (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702). The same section requires Florida-friendly landscaping principles, as defined in Chapter 373 of the Florida Statutes, for all new development and redevelopment, and says lots being developed or redeveloped must be landscaped before a certificate of occupancy is issued. Section 30-704 of the Satellite Beach code supplies the list of native trees and plants known to survive in the region, from live oak, slash pine and cabbage palm to sea grape, saw palmetto, coontie and muhly grass (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-704).

Commercial and multifamily sites in Satellite Beach carry more. Outside single-family and duplex districts, every interval of no more than ten parking spaces needs a pervious landscaped area of at least 100 square feet with at least one tree, and buffers at least ten feet wide must hold at least one tree and ten shrubs in each 25-foot interval (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-703).

Unless the city regularly maintains it, the Satellite Beach property owner maintains the landscaping in the abutting right-of-way out to the street pavement, regardless of where a fence sits on the property (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(b)(2)).

Planting there takes permission: Satellite Beach property owners must obtain a city permit before planting any tree or shrub in a right-of-way, and the city reserves the right to remove any tree or planting within any right-of-way (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(a)(6)). Owners must also trim or remove trees and shrubs, or the parts of them, that overhang or interfere with visibility triangles, traffic control devices, public sidewalks, rights-of-way or city property, and landscaping may not interfere with overhead utility lines or underground cables or pipes (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702).

Enforcement follows a set clock in Satellite Beach. If an owner fails to correct a maintenance violation within 15 days after a written notice, the code enforcement officer may have the city do the work and invoice the owner, and if the amount is not paid within 30 days after the work, the city manager records a sworn statement of the cost that becomes a lien on the property (Satellite Beach Code, Section 30-702(b)(4)). Healthy native grasses in landscapes and publicly owned conservation areas are exempt from the height limit as long as they are free of pests and weeds and are not a fire hazard.

Satellite Beach follows the St. Johns River Water Management District schedule adopted by Ordinance No. 1199 in 2021, with watering days set by address and by season and no watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Sustainable Satellite page).

The Satellite Beach rules cap watering at one hour per zone and apply to every water source, including private wells, pumps, ground or surface water and public or private utilities (Sustainable Satellite page), so a backyard well does not exempt a yard. The Satellite Beach stormwater page adds the reason over-watering matters: water that runs out of a yard and into the gutter carries pollutants to the storm sewer system, which flows into the Banana River Lagoon, a sub-section of the Indian River Lagoon, without treatment (Satellite Beach Stormwater page).

Satellite Beach bans applying fertilizer to lawns from June 1 to September 30, and the sustainability page lists a $200 fine for violating the ordinance (Sustainable Satellite page).

The two Satellite Beach pages word the rule a little differently. The sustainability page says it is against the law to apply fertilizer to a lawn in the city during that window (Sustainable Satellite page), while the stormwater page says fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorous are banned from June 1 to September 30 during the rainy season (Satellite Beach Stormwater page). Both give the same dates.

Year round, the Satellite Beach stormwater page asks residents to test soil before fertilizing, follow the label, never apply before a rain event or within 10 feet of a water body, blow grass clippings back into the yard or containerize them, and never pile vegetative waste on or near storm drain inlets (Satellite Beach Stormwater page). For larger loads, Waste Management collects carted yard waste in Satellite Beach on Monday and picks up large, loose yard waste piles of 3 cubic yards or larger with a clam truck once a week (Satellite Beach Waste Management Info page).

Satellite Beach runs a Yard of the Month award through its Tree and Beautification Board, promotes Lagoon Friendly Lawn and National Wildlife Federation habitat certification, and holds Tree City USA recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation (Sustainable Satellite page).

Yard of the Month runs from March through September in Satellite Beach, and qualifying yards typically show removal or substantial reduction of invasive and non-native species and of lawn area in favor of native plants and trees; winners receive a certificate and a sign to display temporarily (Sustainable Satellite page). The Lagoon Friendly Lawn tips on the same page match the code's direction: reduce turf, go fertilizer-free, plant natives, direct drain spouts to permeable surfaces and use sustainable mulch (Sustainable Satellite page).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, with a fresh read of Satellite Beach's landscaping division (Secs. 30-701 to 30-706), the Sustainable Satellite, stormwater and Waste Management pages, and Florida Statutes section 163.045 on arborist-documented tree removal.