Miramar, FL Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

3 of the Land Development Code requires a permit from the Community Development Department before removing or clearing any protected vegetation, and it defines that term broadly. Protected vegetation includes street trees, required perimeter vegetation, vegetation planted in parking and vehicular use areas, historical trees, any tree located in a designated city area of particular concern, any special status category tree, and any specimen tree, regardless of whether the tree was planted as part of an approved landscape plan or grew naturally. The code's definitions section, Section 201, narrows what counts as a special status category tree: any tree or group of trees occurring in a natural forest community, a local area of particular concern under Broward County Code Section 5-182(j), a natural resource area under Broward County Code Section 5-192(a)(13), or an urban wilderness area under Broward County Code Section 5-182(j).

Specimen trees, defined separately by trunk diameter, are folded into this special-status designation automatically. Because the definition sweeps in ordinary street trees and required landscaping, not just rare or old-growth specimens, most mature trees on a developed Miramar lot end up needing a tree removal/relocation permit before they can legally come down, and land clearing in potential wetlands mapped on the Comprehensive Plan's Floodplains and Wetlands map triggers the same permit requirement.