Do You Need a Permit to Clear Land or Remove a Tree?
Volusia and Seminole County, in plain English. The short version: if you live in the house, you are probably fine. If the lot is empty, or you are about to build on it, assume you are not — and find out before the machines turn up, not after.
The Sixty-Second Answer
Which side of the line your property sits on decides almost everything. This is for unincorporated Volusia County, which is where most of our work is.
Probably exempt
All four have to be true at once.
- ✓The property is zoned residential
- ✓A single-family or two-family home is already on it
- ✓You occupy the home yourself
- ✓The tree is not in a wetland or upland buffer
Expect to need a permit
Any one of these is enough.
- !A vacant lot, whether or not you plan to build
- !Commercial, industrial or any non-residential property
- !Multi-family, a new subdivision, or a mobile home park
- !A rented single-family house rather than an owner-occupied one
- !Any tree in a wetland or an upland buffer, on any lot
- !A home being demolished and replaced — Volusia states the owner-occupied exemption may not apply
The Number to Remember Is Six Inches
Both counties work from the same measurement: trunk diameter of six inches or more at breast height, roughly four and a half feet off the ground. You will see it written as DBH.
In Volusia County, trees of 6 inch DBH and larger are protected inside the setback areas of a residential lot. On non-residential property, essentially all trees of 6 inch DBH and larger are protected. Historic trees are protected in the buildable area as well, not just the setbacks.
Six inches is not a big tree. It is a trunk you can get both hands around. Plenty of people who think they are clearing scrub are actually clearing regulated trees.
Wetlands and upland buffers sit outside all of this. A tree there is regulated regardless of who owns the lot or whether they live on it.
Which Rulebook Applies to You
There is no single Central Florida tree rule. Each county governs its unincorporated land, and every incorporated city inside it runs its own ordinance instead.
Unincorporated Volusia County
DeLeon Springs, Pierson, Barberville, Seville, and county land around DeLandA permit is required to remove any tree not exempted by the county tree ordinance. Trees of 6 inch DBH and larger are protected within residential setback areas; on non-residential property essentially all trees of 6 inch DBH and larger are protected, and historic trees are protected in the buildable area too.
City of DeLand
Anything inside the DeLand city limitsThe city runs its own permit through its Building Department. If more than two trees are coming down, the city asks for a survey identifying every tree greater than 6 inches in diameter on the property, with the ones you want removed clearly marked.
Unincorporated Seminole County
Heathrow, Geneva, Chuluota and surrounding county landAn arbor permit is required before removing a tree, with exemptions set out in Chapter 60 of the county Land Development Code. Six inch DBH is again the general trigger. Developed single-family lots carry an exemption, but wetland areas on those lots do not.
Seminole cities
Sanford, Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, Winter SpringsIncorporated cities run their own arbor ordinances rather than the county one. Same idea, different thresholds and different forms, so the city your parcel sits in is the one that matters.
Parcels near a city boundary are the ones that catch people out. An address with a DeLand postal address is not necessarily inside the DeLand city limits, and the two are governed differently.
The Expensive Way to Find Out
The pattern is always the same. Somebody buys a lot, gets a good price from a crew with a machine, and has it cleared in a day. The problem surfaces weeks later, when the permit application for the build runs into a question nobody can answer: what was on this lot before?
Authorities across Central Florida can issue stop-work orders and require mitigation, which usually means replanting to a specified standard or paying into a tree fund based on what came down. The penalty is not the worst part. The delay is. A build held up while a removal is resolved costs more than the clearing did.
It is fixable after the fact, and we do get called in to fix it. But the assessment is harder and the outcome is worse once the evidence is on a truck.
The cheap version of all this is one phone call before anybody starts. We tell you which authority governs your address, whether the trees on it are regulated, and what the application wants. If it turns out you are exempt, we will tell you that too, and it costs you nothing.
When You Need It in Writing
Some applications turn on a judgement rather than a measurement: whether a tree is genuinely hazardous, whether it is declining beyond saving, whether a protected specimen can reasonably be kept. That judgement has to come from somebody qualified to make it, and it has to be written down.
Tyler Hoag is an ISA Certified Arborist (FL-9491A) and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified, so the assessment supporting your application comes from the same outfit doing the work. HOA architectural review boards ask for the same document, and in gated communities that review usually comes before the county one.
Once the approvals are in hand, the clearing itself is land clearing, forestry mulching or tree removal, all of it in house.
Tell Us the Address, We Will Tell You the Rules
Send the address and roughly what you are trying to do. We will work out which authority governs the parcel, whether the trees on it are regulated, and what the application is going to want from you.
If a permit is needed we handle the filing. If you are exempt, we will say so.
Serving DeLand, DeLeon Springs, Orange City, Lake Helen, Pierson, Seville, Barberville and the rest of Volusia County, plus Sanford, Lake Mary and Heathrow in Seminole. Licensed and insured, 5 stars from 40 Google reviews, working here since 2017.
Permit Questions We Get Asked
This page is a plain-English summary of published county and city requirements, written to help you work out whether you need to ask the question. It is not legal advice, ordinances change, and only the authority governing your parcel can confirm what applies to it. We will help you find out.
Check Before You Clear
One conversation before the machines arrive is cheaper than a mitigation order after them.
Where We Work
Land Clearing Permits Across Central Florida
We run land clearing permitsjobs throughout the region. Pick your area for local details, or call and we'll tell you straight away whether we cover you.