Okaloosa County, FL Tree Protection: Parkway Planting (2026)

011). New construction must landscape a strip at least ten feet wide between the front property line and the vehicular use area, except through permitted access-ways, and sidewalk width does not count toward that ten feet. The tree-count requirement in that front perimeter strip is one tree for every 25 linear feet of lot frontage or major portion of it, with at least half the required trees being shade trees; the balance of the area must be covered in grass or other ground cover. Land in the I-1 or I-2 industrial zoning districts is exempt from the front perimeter requirement, unless the industrially zoned lot's frontage abuts a non-industrial zoning district, in which case the standard still applies.

A footnote to the section allows salt-tolerant, cold-hardy palm species, Cabbage Palm, Pindo Palm, or Date Palm, reaching at least 20 to 35 feet, to substitute for required shade or canopy trees specifically on Okaloosa Island and in the unincorporated area of Destin/Moreno Point, provided the substitute species is not listed as invasive or noxious by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Vehicles are limited to overhanging no more than two feet into the perimeter landscape strip, and accessway openings through it are capped at set widths so the strip still functions as a continuous planted buffer along the frontage.