Daytona Beach, FL Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Section 6.15.A.7 of the Land Development Code defines a historic tree as an existing live oak or bald cypress with a diameter at breast height of 36 inches or greater, any tree of any species at that same 36-inch DBH that the City Commission determines has unique and intrinsic value for its size, age, historic association, or ecological value, or any tree formally designated a champion tree at the state, national, or world level by the American Forestry Association. Historic trees subject to the section must be retained, during and after development, inside a tree protection zone established under Section 6.15.A.8.

A healthy historic tree can only be removed if the City Commission approves it after finding the landowner is otherwise complying with the tree preservation section, the tree prevents development of a lot platted before March 1, 2015 in a way that limits building area or hinders compliance with the Code's zoning, use, or development standards, and mitigation is provided under the Section 6.15.A.9 replacement standards. City staff, rather than the Commission, can approve removal of a severely diseased, high-risk, damaged, or dying historic tree certified by an arborist, and that staff decision can be appealed to the City Commission; removing a tree in that damaged or dying condition does not require mitigation.

Separately, Section 6.15.A.6 requires retention of a share of existing specimen trees based on density, ranging from 80 percent retained where a site has fewer than three specimen trees per acre down to a flat four trees per acre retained where density exceeds 8.1 per acre.