Titusville tree removal permits

Most tree removals in Titusville need a city permit first, but the owner of an existing single-family home does not need one.

The general rule in Section 30-39(a) is broad: no person, organization or agent may cut down, destroy, remove or move a tree, or effectively destroy one by damaging it, before the City of Titusville issues a permit, unless state or federal law pre-empts the removal (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). The same section then carves out the most common case. A tree removal permit is not required from an owner of an existing single-family residential dwelling, and a Titusville single-family residence counts as existing one year after its certificate of occupancy is issued (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

That one-year line matters for buyers of new construction in Titusville. A house in its first year after the certificate of occupancy is not yet an existing dwelling under the code, so clearing trees on that lot still falls under the permit rule (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). The exemption also stops at shared land: common areas and tracts inside Titusville developments are not exempt from the permit requirement (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Two groups are outside the Titusville tree rules altogether. Licensed plant and tree nurseries are exempt for stock grown for sale to the public, and nuisance trees, defined as those on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Category I list, shall be removed with no permit required (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). The Titusville fee schedule repeats the nuisance tree rule next to its tree removal fee lines (Titusville fee schedule, Ordinance 33-2021).

Titusville protects native or IFAS-designated Florida-friendly trees, excluding palms, in three size classes measured as diameter at breast height.

The classes and sizes in the table come from Section 30-31(c), and the replacement percentages from Section 30-34(a)(1), which applies to residential subdivisions and to Titusville developments that meet the optional preserved and total canopy area (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Developments that do not meet the canopy minimums face a different rule: two-to-one replacement based on the dbh of specimen and heritage trees removed, and no mitigation for significant trees (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Breast height has a precise meaning in the Titusville code: a point on the trunk four and one-half feet above the ground on the uphill side of the tree, measured over the bark with a diameter tape (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). The code uses the same 4.5 foot measurement to size a tree's critical root zone, multiplying the trunk diameter by twelve inches to get the diameter of the zone, so a twenty-five-inch tree has a twenty-five-foot diameter root zone in the code's own example (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Grade changes inside that zone are capped at three inches, and a tree whose root zone is built over beyond the allowed limits is treated as fully impacted (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Titusville approves removal when a tree blocks construction that cannot reasonably be redesigned, is hazardous or dead, or falls under a state law that pre-empts the city.

Section 30-32(a) lists the justifications the Titusville administrator considers (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). They include trees in the footprint of a planned building, driveway, sidewalk, retention area or accessory structure where redesign is not feasible; trees whose root zones sit so close to structures that they prevent development of the lot; trees found hazardous to persons or property; and trees that are dead, diseased or weakened by age, storms, fire or other injuries. The hazard and dead-tree findings must come from a certified arborist, a Florida licensed landscape architect or a Florida Nursery Growers and Landscaping Association certified horticulture professional, and for dead or diseased trees that threaten the public, Titusville waives the permit fee (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Applicants in Titusville must give the administrator a written statement that substantiates the need for any removal (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Before saying yes, the city can also offer an alternative: the administrator may reduce the applicable setbacks by up to 25 percent to avoid removing a protected tree, though never below the required fire separation (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Heritage trees, the largest class, need approval from the Titusville Development Review Committee, which weighs whether the project can be reconfigured, whether setbacks, buffers or road widths can shrink, and whether low-impact construction such as pervious pavement, grade beams or tree wells can save the tree (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Committee review is not required where 75 percent or more of the existing heritage trees on the site are preserved, and committee decisions are appealed under Section 34-248(b) (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

The Titusville fee schedule lists two tree removal charges: $105.00 for Tree Removal (All Uses) among the land development review fees, and $55.00 plus $20.00 per tree among the site development permit fees.

Both lines appear on the same city page, Ordinance 33-2021, which adds Section 17, Fees, to the Development Review Procedures Manual (Titusville fee schedule, Ordinance 33-2021). Under 17.2, Land Development Fees, the Class I Improvement Review heading shows residential review at $105.00, nonresidential review at $265.00 and Tree Removal (All Uses) at $105.00. Under 17.3, Site Development Permit Fees, which the schedule says are paid to defray the cost of inspection by the city, the Class I Site Development Permit list shows Tree removal, plus $20.00 per tree, at $55.00 (Titusville fee schedule, Ordinance 33-2021). The schedule does not say whether a single request pays one line or both, so the Titusville Development Services office is the place to confirm the charge before filing.

Directly under the $55.00 line, the Titusville schedule restates two exceptions from the Land Development Regulations: the permit fee is waived for trees that are dead, diseased or weakened by age, storms, fire or other injuries and that threaten the public, and nuisance trees are removed with no permit at all (Titusville fee schedule, Ordinance 33-2021). The land development fee section also says that if reviews beyond the initial three are required, the applicant pays an additional fifty percent of the original review fee (Titusville fee schedule, Ordinance 33-2021).

Donated trees are treated separately: people who give trees to a public body for transplanting on Titusville public property are exempt from the permit fee when the public body accepts the trees (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

A Titusville permit for protected trees comes with a mitigation plan, usually replacement planting on the same site and, as a last resort, a payment into the city's Public Landscaping Trust Fund.

Section 30-34(d) says the plan lists, by species and size, every protected tree proposed for removal and every protected tree to be preserved, plus the location of any required canopy areas (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Section 30-33 lets Titusville require the applicant to relocate a tree or replace it with a Florida-friendly tree of similar type elsewhere on the site, graded Florida #1 with a healthy root system (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

When a Titusville site cannot hold the required plantings, the payment rate is $75.00 per net dbh-inch lost where canopy requirements are met and $100.00 per net dbh inch for developments that do not choose the optional canopy requirements (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). The code gives a twenty-five-percent credit toward that contribution when the removed vegetation is shredded, chipped or logged off site, and payment into the trust fund is not eligible for a variance (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Larger Titusville projects also need a tree survey before a clearing and grubbing permit, building permit, plat or site plan approval, prepared by a registered land surveyor, a landscape architect or a certified horticulture professional (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Section 30-40 was last amended by Ordinance 15-2025 on May 13, 2025, the most recent change shown in the tree division (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Two Florida statutes override the Titusville tree code: one for dangerous trees on residential property, and one for utility trimming along power lines.

Florida Statutes section 163.045 takes a documented hazard tree out of city hands. When a residential owner holds a signed onsite assessment by an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect concluding that the tree poses an unacceptable risk to persons or property, Titusville may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee or mitigation before the tree is pruned, trimmed or removed. The assessment follows the procedures of Best Management Practices, Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017), and the risk is unacceptable only if taking the tree down is the sole practical means of getting its risk under moderate (Florida Statutes section 163.045). The city also may not make the owner plant a replacement (Florida Statutes section 163.045).

The Titusville code builds that statute in: Section 30-32(a)(5) lists removals on residential property under Section 163.045 as needing no permit or replacement tree, and Section 30-33(e) repeats the no-replanting rule (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II). Under the statute, residential property means a single-family detached building on a lot in active single-family residential use that is conforming or legally nonconforming, and the section does not reach delegated mangrove protection authority under sections 403.9321 through 403.9333 (Florida Statutes section 163.045).

Utility line clearance is the second carve-out. Florida Statutes section 163.3209 says no local government may require permits or approvals for vegetation maintenance and tree trimming within an established electric line right-of-way, though trees outside the right-of-way stay under local rules, and the utility must give the designated local official 5 business days advance notice before scheduled routine work. Titusville's code points to the same statute for utility removals and replanting (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

A Titusville tree removal permit is a Development Services site permit filed with an application and a drawing that marks each tree to be removed.

The Titusville Site Permits page lists three pieces for a tree removal request: the application, a drawing of the location of the tree or trees, and a reference to the Environmental Protection Technical Manual (Titusville Site Permits page). An owner's authorization is required only when the property owner is not the applicant, which covers a tree service or contractor filing on an owner's behalf (Titusville Site Permits page). The page directs requests for the application and the owner's authorization form to a Development Services contact rather than posting the forms for download (Titusville Site Permits page).

The city contact block on that page lists 555 S Washington Avenue, Titusville, FL 32796, and the phone 321-567-3775 (Titusville Site Permits page). The Titusville building permits guide covers the separate Building Department process, and the Titusville code enforcement guide covers how unpermitted work is reported. During construction, Section 30-36 points builders to Section 2.5 of the Environmental Protection Technical Design Manual for tree protection, and after hurricanes, tornados, floods or hard freezes the city manager or a designee may waive all or part of the tree rules (Titusville Land Development Regulations, Chapter 30, Article II).

Last verified: October 21, 2026, against the Titusville tree division of Chapter 30, the Development Services site permit page, Ordinance 33-2021's fee lines, and Florida Statutes sections 163.045 and 163.3209 (Titusville Site Permits page).