You may prune your own trees, but in Port St. Lucie substantially altering or damaging a protected tree requires a permit. Florida law also lets homeowners trim or remove a residential tree without local approval when a certified arborist documents it as dangerous.
Port St. Lucie's Landscape and Land Clearing Code, Section 154.14, bars any person from cutting down, substantially altering, destroying, removing, relocating, or damaging a protected tree without first obtaining a tree removal permit, so heavy crown reduction or root damage to a protected specimen is regulated. Routine light pruning of your own non-protected trees is not. Florida Statute 163.045 further prevents local governments from requiring a permit for pruning or removing a residential tree when the owner holds documentation from an ISA-certified arborist that the tree is dangerous. Right-of-way and street trees are handled by the city or county.
Unpermitted work on a protected tree can bring code enforcement fines and mandatory replacement or mitigation under the city's landscape code; per-inch tree-replacement requirements may apply.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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St. Lucie County does not set a numeric park curfew in its general code. County parks, beaches, and natural preserves are open during daylight hours only, fr...
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Along St. Lucie County's coast, the sea-turtle ordinance (LDC 6.04.02) is the strongest light-trespass rule: exterior lights visible from the beach or illumi...
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St. Lucie County's Treasure Coast beaches are protected by a sea-turtle lighting ordinance (LDC 6.04.02). Between the coastal control line and the Atlantic, ...
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In unincorporated St. Lucie County, garage or yard sale signs are exempt from a permit under LDC 9.04.00 as long as they are removed by sunset of the last da...
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In unincorporated St. Lucie County, campaign signs are content-neutral non-commercial temporary signs. They must sit wholly on private property, and in singl...
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St. Lucie County has no tiny-home ordinance. A site-built tiny house on a foundation is a dwelling under the Florida Building Code and zoning; a tiny house o...
See how St. Lucie County's tree trimming rules stack up against other locations.
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