Homestead, FL Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

Sec. 29-11, adopted by Ord. No. 01-04-11 and amended by Ord. No. 2006-12-56, makes property owners responsible for maintaining required landscaping in a healthy, neat condition and for replacing any required tree or plant that dies. Subsection (c) sets the actual pruning rules for any tree on a site subject to the article: cuts must be clean and made at junctions, laterals or crotches, without cutting into the branch collar or leaving a protruding stub, and the use of wound sealants is discouraged. Dead wood, crossing branches, weak or insignificant branches and suckers must be removed at the same time as any crown reduction.

Cutting lateral branches so as to remove more than one-third of all branches on one side of a tree is allowed only when required for hazard reduction or clearance pruning, and no more than one-third of a tree's living canopy may be removed within any single one-year period regardless of the reason. Branch lifting or tree thinning must distribute more than half of the tree's mass in the lower two-thirds of the tree, and every cut must follow the current ANSI A300 Standards and the city's Landscape Manual, with aerial pruning required as needed to reduce wind and storm hazards.

Sec. 29-13 backs these standards with enforcement: the development services department can withhold approval of a final building inspection or certificate of occupancy until a preparer's certification of landscape compliance is approved, and code enforcement officers may issue cease-and-desist orders and citations, with each individual tree not properly maintained treated as its own separate, continuing violation.