Do you need a permit to clear land in Brevard County?

Start with who governs the parcel

Brevard County's land clearing and tree protection code covers the unincorporated county, and that includes Merritt Island (Brevard County Code s. 62-4333). Palm Bay, Melbourne, West Melbourne, Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge and the other cities each write their own rules. Your property tax bill or the parcel's record with the Property Appraiser should show which one you're in.

One state law gets misread a lot. Under Florida Statute 163.045, once a Florida licensed landscape architect or an ISA Certified Arborist documents that a tree is an unacceptable risk, local governments can't require a permit to remove it. It applies only to residential property, defined as a single-family home on a lot actively used as one. Vacant lots aren't covered (F.S. 163.045).

Unincorporated Brevard, including Merritt Island

Unless an exemption applies, the county requires a permit before any land clearing (s. 62-4337). The code defines land clearing as removing or cutting down vegetation, trees included, and root-raking. Mowing, trimming and pruning that the code allows don't count (s. 62-4332).

Protected trees start at 10 inches in diameter at breast height for hardwoods and 14 inches for softwoods such as pines, on the mainland and Merritt Island. On the barrier island both thresholds drop to 1.5 inches. Hardwoods and softwoods in good condition at 24 inches or more are specimen trees. Diameter is measured 4.5 feet above grade (s. 62-4332).

The exemptions are narrower than people expect (s. 62-4334):

• Single-family lots of 1.25 acres or less that already have a certificate of occupancy are exempt from the canopy and preservation rules, as long as minimum landscaping stays. A vacant lot has no certificate of occupancy.
• For single-family lots above 1.25 acres and up to 2.5 acres that have a certificate of occupancy, only the specimen-tree and minimum-landscaping rules still apply.
• Bona fide agriculture.
• Removing nonnative invasive plants, except inside shoreline protection buffers, seaward of the Coastal Construction Setback Line and in wetlands. There the work has to be done by hand, with roots left in the ground and aquatic-approved herbicide.
• A dead or seriously damaged tree that's an immediate threat, taken down in an emergency.

How the county permit works

A land clearing permit for a single-family lot expires 90 days after it's issued, and the Director may extend it by up to 60 days. It has to be posted where it can be seen from the road (s. 62-4338).

For smaller jobs there's a small scale land clearing permit. It's an administrative waiver, good for 30 days, and only one is approved per property per calendar year. It allows removing up to half the understory or 1 acre, whichever is less, and up to 10 percent of the native canopy. It can't approve removing a specimen tree, and approval follows a site visit by county staff (s. 62-4338(5)).

Lots larger than 1.25 acres with existing canopy, or with trees above 10 inches, need a tree and vegetation survey for the county's Natural Resources Management office. Wetland boundaries need a certified survey delineated within the last 5 years. Land on the Indian River Lagoon, St. Johns River or Lake Washington needs a surface water buffer survey. The office also offers desktop property reviews that flag wetlands, flood-prone areas and protected wildlife (Brevard NRMO permitting review process).

Skipping the permit is expensive. Each quarter acre or fraction cleared in violation is its own violation, each protected tree removed is another, and the county issues no permits or certificates of occupancy until the violation is resolved (s. 62-4336).

Palm Bay

Palm Bay's permit section, s. 175.014, was updated by Ord. 2024-33 in September 2024. Under the updated section, you need a permit to remove or damage a tree measuring 6 inches or more in diameter at breast height or a palm with at least 4.5 feet of clear wood, and to do any land clearing on a residential lot below 1 acre (Palm Bay Code s. 175.014).

The application asks for the fee, the recorded deed, a signed hold-harmless agreement, an authorization letter if the applicant isn't the owner, and a site sketch showing the diameter and species of every tree on the parcel and which ones stay. Review takes 7 days. If a single- or two-family lot under 1 acre is being cleared for development, a building permit has to be under review already, and its application number goes on the form.

Taking out underbrush is grubbing, with its own permit under s. 175.015. Grubbing means hand clearing, roto-chopping or mulching in place. That permit doesn't cover clearing, scraping, balancing or filling land, or removing protected or specimen trees. It doesn't apply to single- and two-family sites smaller than 1 acre or to areas no bigger than a quarter acre (s. 175.015).

Clear without a permit and the city issues a stop-work order or violation notice, with one week to apply at double the fee and possibly a restoration plan of replacement trees (ch. 175). Lots in the mapped scrub-jay areas also can't be cleared from March 1 through June 30, with limited exceptions (Palm Bay Habitat Conservation Plan). The scrub-jay lots guide explains.

Melbourne and West Melbourne

In Melbourne, removing any tree needs a permit unless it's exempt, while trimming up to 20 percent of the canopy needs none. The exemptions cover trees on a property that already has a one-, two- or three-family home, trees that are dead or dangerous, and listed invasives such as Brazilian pepper, melaleuca and Australian pine. In designated occupied scrub-jay and gopher tortoise habitat, vegetation can't be trimmed, removed or altered without approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Melbourne LDC s. 9.272).

In West Melbourne, a protected tree on the city's Manual of Acceptable Plantings can't come out without a permit (s. 71-107). The exemptions cover lots actively used for a single-family home, owner-builders constructing a single-family home or duplex on a lot they own, and listed invasives like Brazilian pepper and air potato (West Melbourne Code ss. 71-108(d) and 71-110).

Titusville

Titusville requires a city permit to remove any tree unless state or federal law preempts it. Owners of an existing single-family home are exempt, with a home treated as existing once its certificate of occupancy is one year old. Common areas in developments aren't exempt (Titusville LDR s. 30-39).

A tree survey has to be done before the city issues a clearing and grubbing, building, plat or site plan permit, and only an FNGLA-certified horticulture professional, a Florida registered land surveyor or a landscape architect licensed in Florida can prepare it. Protected trees, palms excluded, are sorted by size: Significant at 14 to under 20 inches, Specimen at 20 to under 46, and Heritage at 46 inches and up (Titusville LDR ss. 30-31(c) and 30-40). FLEPPC Category I nuisance trees come out without a permit under s. 30-35 (Titusville LDR).

Cocoa and Rockledge

Cocoa's tree rules apply to vacant and undeveloped land, open space on developed property and rights-of-way, and not to single-family or duplex lots. Where they apply, removing a tree takes a tree removal permit and clearing land takes a land clearing permit. A regulated tree is 6 inches in diameter or more, and a specimen hardwood is 24 inches or more. Cocoa also reads F.S. 163.045 as excluding vacant land zoned residential (Cocoa Code, App. A, Art. XIII, s. 22).

As a general rule, taking a tree down in Rockledge needs a permit from the city's Building Official. Single- and two-family lots are exempt if they keep at least four non-invasive trees from the city list or plant a substitute within 30 days for each tree removed. Removing trees from a site before it's developed is prohibited, except for exempt species such as Brazilian pepper and melaleuca (Rockledge LDR ss. 108-51 and 108-52).

Rules that apply on every parcel

Whatever the local code says, these sit on top of it:

• Gopher tortoises: clearing, grading or digging within 25 feet of a potentially occupied burrow needs an FWC permit (FWC). See the gopher tortoise guide.
• Bald eagles: FWC recommends checking its historical nesting map and keeping 660 feet from a nest before clearing (FWC bald eagle FAQs).
• Wetlands: building in or filling wetlands may need an Environmental Resource Permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District or FDEP (SJRWMD).
• An acre or more: disturbing 1 acre or more and draining to surface waters or a storm sewer system falls under FDEP's Construction Generic Permit, with a pollution prevention plan and a notice filed before work starts (FDEP).
• Digging: grading, moving earth and scraping count as digging, and Sunshine 811 needs at least two full business days' notice (Sunshine 811).
• Burning: every land clearing pile burn needs a Florida Forest Service authorization (FFS).

Before anyone starts

Get the permit in hand before the machine is on the trailer, and walk the lot with the crew you're matched with to mark the trees that stay. If something on the ground doesn't match the permit, like an extra tree in the way, call the office before it's cut. Fixing a sketch costs a phone call. Fixing a violation costs a lot more.