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

Sec. 30-39 of Titusville's Land Development Regulations makes it unlawful for any person or entity to cut down, destroy, remove, move or otherwise damage a tree before the City issues a permit, unless the removal is preempted by state or federal law. Sec. 30-31(c) sets the protected-tree thresholds by diameter at breast height (DBH), measured four and a half feet above grade: a "significant" native or Florida-friendly tree runs fourteen up to twenty inches DBH, a "specimen" tree runs twenty up to forty-six inches, and a "heritage" tree is forty-six inches or larger.

One important carve-out: Sec. 30-39(c) does not require a tree removal permit from the owner of an existing single-family residential dwelling, where "existing" means the certificate of occupancy has been issued for at least one year. Common areas and tracts within a development do not get that exemption and still need a permit. Where a permit is required, Sec. 30-32 lists the Administrator's criteria for approving removal, including trees that block a permitted building, driveway or accessory structure, trees whose root zone crowds the lot, and trees a certified arborist finds hazardous or dead, diseased or weakened; in the last case, the permit fee is waived.

Sec. 30-33 lets the City require relocation or replacement, and Sec. 30-34 sets mitigation ratios by size class: fifty percent replacement for a significant tree, one hundred percent for a specimen tree, and two hundred percent for a heritage tree, based on trunk diameter, or a payment into the City's Public Landscaping Trust Fund of seventy-five to one hundred dollars per net diameter-inch lost when on-site replanting is not feasible.