Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Platted single-family lots in Port St. Lucie are exempt from the tree preservation rules, so most homeowners here do not need a tree removal permit — as long as the property still meets the city's minimum landscaping requirements afterward. On everything else a permit is required for any protected tree, meaning 12 inches DBH or larger, or a native palm with 10 feet or more of clear trunk.
Size threshold
Sec. 154.14(A): a protected tree is any tree 12" DBH or greater, any replacement tree, and any tree represented in a landscape plan, street tree planting plan or other planning document. Sec. 153.01 adds native palms with a minimum clear trunk of ten feet. Multi-stemmed trunks are added together and counted as one tree.
What's protected in Port St. Lucie
- Any tree 12" DBH or greater, and native palms with 10 feet or more of clear trunk
- Replacement trees, and any tree shown on an approved landscape or street tree planting plan
- Trees in native upland habitat preserve areas
- Mangroves — regulated by the Florida DEP, not the city
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- Tree Removal Permit $35.00. Tree preservation mitigation is separately assessed at $200.00 per inch DBH of required mitigation, or $100 per inch for slash pines.
- Penalties
- Sec. 154.17(A): if protected trees are removed without a permit, the number of replacement trees is up to three times the amount for every offence and the applicant is charged twice the normal application fee. Each tree removed in violation is a separate violation. No certificate of occupancy issues until the restoration plan conditions are met.
- Ordinance
- Port St. Lucie Code Title XV, Chapter 154 — Landscape and Land Clearing Code, Article II (Secs. 154.13-154.18)
Worth knowing
- The exemption is in the code at Sec. 154.14(A)(1): "Platted single-family lots are exempt from the preservation requirements of this article as long as the minimum landscaping requirements, as may be required by this chapter, are met and maintained."
- Other exemptions: botanical gardens and state-approved nurseries and groves; non-native fruit trees grown for edible fruit such as mango, avocado and citrus; non-native invasive or undesirable species; utility work in an existing easement; bona fide commercial nursery or agricultural operations; and routine trimming or pruning.
- If not covered by an exemption but you believe there are no protected trees, Sec. 154.15(C) lets you file a "no tree verification statement" instead of a permit application.
- Tree removal on HOA common property requires a letter from the association's Board confirming consensus.
- A separate land clearing permit applies to any development disturbing one acre or more, and to clearing platted single-family parcels bordering the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.
What we could not confirm
We would rather tell you what we don't know than guess. Call the office below to confirm these before you cut.
- — Whether Port St. Lucie recognises the Fla. Stat. 163.045 arborist exemption. A full-text search of the city code returned zero hits for "163.045." Its use of arborists in Sec. 154.15 is a way to satisfy the permit criteria, not to bypass the permit.
- — The current live text of the city's Tree Protection page — cityofpsl.com blocks automated access, so wording was confirmed from an archived October 2024 capture. The ordinance text says the same and is current through Supplement 103 (February 2026).