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

Sec. 94-448(c)(1) lets the city designate two categories of protected trees. A historic tree is one of notable historic interest to the city due to its age, type, size, or historic association with the community, designated by the city commission and tracked on a registry the planning division maintains. A specimen tree is one judged by a professional forester, landscape architect, arborist, or similar expert to be of high community value because of type, size, age, or other professional criteria, likewise designated by the city commission; specimen trees can also be locked in as a condition of a development order's approval.

Once designated, a historic or specimen tree cannot be removed, relocated, or replaced without a tree alteration permit from the planning and zoning administrator, who may require a landscape plan or aerial photograph with the application. A removal permit for a designated tree is available only in narrow circumstances: the tree isn't actually the designated historic or specimen tree, it cannot be relocated because of its age, type, or size, it unreasonably impedes development of a buildable area, it is diseased, injured, hazardous, or conflicts with utilities, or removal is otherwise in the public interest as the planning and zoning administrator determines.

An applicant who removes or relocates a tree must replace it with equal or superior canopy, calculated square-foot-for-square-foot against the removed tree's canopy, or pay into the city's landscape trust account when on-site replacement isn't feasible. Subsection (g) backs the whole scheme with a penalty clause layered on top of Sec. 94-9's general fines.