Sumter County, FL Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Sec. 13-800(b) requires all major development in unincorporated Sumter County to take reasonable measures minimizing the removal of or damage to 'significant trees,' defined in Sec. 13-200 as any sound tree twenty-four inches or larger in diameter at breast height (DBH). A significant tree may not be removed or damaged unless one of the code's listed conditions is met: a permissible use of the site cannot reasonably proceed unless the specific tree is removed; the tree sits close enough to an existing or proposed structure that it materially impairs the structure's safety, utility, or structural integrity; the owner demonstrates through site plan alternatives that no reasonable alternative route or development pattern exists; or the tree is dead, diseased, or weakened by age, storm damage or fire and likely to injure people or damage property.

Sec. 13-800(a) requires an aerial photograph or tree survey to identify existing trees before site improvements are even proposed, and states that nothing in the chapter requires removing existing trees. As an incentive to preserve them, Sec. 13-800(c) lets a developer reduce required off-street parking spaces, up to a maximum of twenty percent, when preserving significant trees makes it impossible to fit the full parking count. During construction, Sec. 13-800(e) requires protective barricades placed at the critical protection zone of every tree designated to remain before any clearing, grading or filling begins, and bars storing materials within a retained tree's drip line or protection barrier for the duration of construction.