Palm Beach Gardens, FL Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Section 78-682 lets the city council designate a site as historic or archaeological based on national or state listing or the site's own significance, and the code names the MacArthur Banyan Tree, growing in the median of MacArthur Boulevard just north of Northlake Boulevard, as one of the sites 'designated as historic and/or archaeological sites per the standards herein.' Section 78-683 backs that designation with a dedicated protection zone covering the area within 200 feet of the tree's drip line, centered on its location about 150 feet north of Northlake Boulevard.

Within the zone, no clearing or development may proceed without city council approval, and an application to clear or build there is not even considered complete unless it comes with an impact analysis from a qualified environmental consultant, arborist, or landscape specialist; the city may commission its own independent analysis at the applicant's expense. Road widening is barred inside the zone unless the applicant proves the work will not kill or damage the tree, and any approved road work must use pervious concrete unless the city engineer approves otherwise.

No above ground or below ground utilities may run through the tree's crown or root zone, and pruning is banned unless the city expressly authorizes it. City Founder John D. MacArthur had the two banyans, one dating to about 1881, planted at the site in the early 1960s, and the code directs that any development within the zone provide a substantial gateway design on both sides of MacArthur Boulevard.