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Tree Removal Permits in Gulfport, FL
Gulfport runs its own tree rules, separate from St. Petersburg next door. Here is what the city requires before a tree comes down.
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Gulfport is wrapped almost entirely by St. Petersburg, and nearly every caller from these blocks starts by quoting St. Pete’s rules. They do not apply. Gulfport is an independent city with its own tree article, Chapter 22, Article XX, sections 22-20.01 through 22-20.16, and it differs from its neighbor on the three things that matter most.
Here is the short version, and it is good news: the threshold is higher, palms are entirely exempt, and the permit is free.
What needs a permit
§ 22-20.05(a):
It shall be unlawful for any person, without obtaining a permit as provided herein, to remove any tree with one (1) or more stems or trunks six (6) inches or more DBH, or to remove, alter or trim any mangrove.
So: six inches DBH, measured at 4.5 feet, the highest residential threshold of any jurisdiction we work in. Note the wording is "one or more stems… six inches or more," so a single stem reaching six inches is enough; unlike Belleair, Gulfport’s code does not tell you to sum multi-stem diameters.
Mangroves, red, black, white and buttonwood, are regulated at any size, and not just for removal: trimming or altering one needs the permit too, plus any permit required by another agency with jurisdiction.
Palms are completely exempt. § 22-20.04 removes palms from §§ 22-20.05 through 22-20.09 entirely, no permit, no replacement, no care-during-development rules, at any size. That is a genuine outlier: Belleair protects palms with 4.5 ft of clear trunk, Tarpon Springs protects Cabbage and Sabal Palms at any size, and Pinellas County protects all palms six feet and taller.
And "removal" includes killing a tree by pruning. § 22-20.03 defines remove as digging up a tree, or "cutting or pruning any tree in such a manner as to reduce the tree to a stump." Separately § 22-20.09(d) makes it unlawful to take more than 50% of the canopy of any tree 6" DBH or larger in any one-year period, or the entire canopy over any period, a violation regardless of permit. § 22-20.09(e) makes it unlawful to intentionally cause the death of such a tree by any means whatsoever.
Getting it approved
§ 22-20.07 gives three alternative routes. The one that covers most homeowners is (a): the tree is dead, in danger of falling, being crowded out by another tree, endangering existing structures or utility works, causing unsafe vision clearance on adjacent streets or alleys, or is one of fourteen listed undesirable species (Australian pine, Brazilian pepper, carrotwood, catclaw mimosa, chinaberry, Chinese tallow, ear tree, eucalyptus, ficus except banyan, java plum, monkeypuzzle, punk, silk oak, woman’s tongue).
Route (b) is the development-conflict route, and it requires all four of its conditions including that the tree is not a specimen or designated historic tree. Specimen and historic status in Gulfport come from an affirmative designation by the City, Pinellas County or the State, they are not size-based, and The published code does not contain any published list of trees actually designated. Whether a designated tree could still come out under the (a) hazard route, since the specimen bar textually sits only in (b), is unresolved. Do not rely on that reading without calling Community Development.
What removal costs, and the reason to always pull the permit
The permit is free. § 22-20.05(c): "No fee shall be charged for the issuance of a permit pursuant to this section."
Replacement is tree-for-tree, not inch-for-inch, for a permitted removal, one replacement per tree removed, minimum 2" DBH and 8 feet tall, from the approved species list at § 22-20.16. And crucially:
If any removed tree meets the criteria for removal set forth in subsection 22-20.07(a), no replacement tree shall be required for said tree.
So a dead tree, or one endangering your house, taken under a free permit, costs you nothing in fees and nothing in replanting.
Where planting is genuinely impractical because other protected trees stand within 30 feet of all available planting ground, the tree bank payment is $125.00 per DBH inch, the highest in-lieu rate in the county, raised to that figure by Ord. No. 2023-12 in November 2023. Any older reference quoting a different rate is out of date. Replacement may be delayed up to six months for seasonal planting, and all applications on a parcel within one year of each other are treated as a single application for replacement purposes, so splitting a job across months does not help.
Now the arithmetic of skipping it, § 22-20.13:
| Situation | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Removed a 6"+ tree with no permit, and it did not qualify for removal | Inch-for-inch DBH replacement + $100 fine per tree to the tree bank, + $125/inch for replacement inches that cannot be planted |
| Removed with no permit, but the tree did qualify under § 22-20.07 | $100 fine per tree |
| Want to fix it afterwards | After-the-fact permit: $100, versus $0 if you had asked first |
And § 22-14.02, which sits over the whole zoning chapter, makes the owner, tenant, architect, building contractor, agent "or other person who commits, participates in, assists in, or maintains any violation" each separately guilty. Article XX lives inside Chapter 22, so a tree company that drops a six-inch tree here without the free permit is liable in its own right.
Since the permit costs nothing, there is no defensible reason to skip it. That is the whole Gulfport argument in one line.
Start here
Send us a photo of the tree.
You do not have to know whether it needs to come down. That is the part we are for.
- One photo, whole tree in frameTrunk base to top. A close-up of anything that looks wrong helps.
- Text us the photoThe text button below opens the right thread. Add your street and city.
- We come out and lookEvery estimate is in person, free, sometimes the answer is that it needs nothing.
Applying
§ 22-20.06(a) is the lightest submittal requirement of any jurisdiction in this county. For property with a residential land use and zoning classification on which a residential dwelling has stood for at least six months, the entire code-required application is:
a sketch of the land involved, including the location of trees for removal.
No survey. No arborist report. No site plan. No fee.
For a new build, a vacant lot, a house under six months old, or any non-residential property, § 22-20.06(b) folds the tree permit into the building permit application with a full site plan showing every tree 6" DBH or larger, planned paving and structures, utility easements and lines, and any grade changes.
Right-of-way and park trees are separate permits (§ 22-20.10(a), § 17-5, § 17-6). Variances go to the Board of Adjustment (§ 22-20.12).
We do not publish a Gulfport turnaround time. Article XX contains no review clock for a homeowner permit, the only 30-day clock in the article, at § 22-20.10(c), applies solely to utility service provider trimming permits and does not generalize. The City’s own website does not reliably publish the application form, portal, department contact or office hours, so we do not repeat them here. Call Community Development before you plan a date.
One search-results warning worth stating out loud: searching for "Gulfport tree permit" returns a great deal of material for Gulfport, Mississippi, including a "tree advisor," a fourteen-working-day decision clock and a 180-day permit validity. None of that is Florida law and none of it appears on this page.
Storms and hazards
No standing hazardous-tree exemption exists. A dead or dangerous tree is a ground for granting a permit and it is exempt from replacement, the permit is still required, and since it is free that is a paperwork step, not a cost. A dead or diseased tree found by the City to be a hazard is separately a nuisance it can abate under Chapter 12 (§ 22-20.09(c)).
Storm relief is discretionary. § 22-20.15 lets the city manager or designee waive the article’s requirements after a hurricane, windstorm, flood, freeze or other disaster, "upon finding that such waiver is necessary." It requires the finding. The published code does not confirm that it has ever been invoked or how such a waiver would be announced. After a named storm, confirm with the City before anyone tells you no permit is needed.
Where the state statute fits, and why it usually is not the right tool here
Gulfport’s code has never been amended to reflect § 163.045. A full-text search returns zero hits for "163.045" and zero hits for "arborist" anywhere in the entire Gulfport code. The statute binds the City as a matter of law regardless, on the usual conditions: single-family detached home actively used as one, signed on-site ISA-certified-arborist or Florida-licensed-landscape-architect documentation to the ISA Tree Risk Assessment BMP, 2nd Edition, concluding removal is the only practical way to bring risk below moderate.
But think about the economics in this city specifically. Gulfport’s permit is free, the submittal for an established home is a sketch, and a tree meeting § 22-20.07(a) needs no replacement. A statutory risk assessment costs money. In Gulfport, pulling the free permit is usually the cheaper and safer path, the statute is the tool for the case where the City would otherwise say no. And it never reaches mangroves. Read the statute page.
Frequently asked questions
Do St. Petersburg’s rules apply to me? No. Gulfport is an independent city with its own tree article. St. Pete protects shade trees from four inches and understory from eight; Gulfport’s trigger is six inches with palms fully exempt.
Do I need a permit for my sabal palm? No. § 22-20.04 exempts palms entirely, every species, any size.
What about the mango and avocado in my back yard? They are trees like any other under the code, the six-inch DBH trigger applies. Gulfport’s exempt list is a list of undesirable species, and fruit trees are not on it.
How much is the permit? Nothing. It is the only free tree permit in Pinellas County, which is exactly why the $100-per-tree fine for skipping it is so hard to argue with.
Does the county’s 24-inch homesteaded threshold help me? No. That is a Pinellas County rule for unincorporated property. Gulfport’s six-inch trigger and its palm exemption conflict with the county article, and § 58-809 says the municipal ordinance prevails where they conflict, so Gulfport’s rules should govern in town. Whether the county also administers its article inside city limits is not published by either government, one call settles it, and we make that call before we schedule.
Verified against the Gulfport Code of Ordinances Ch. 22 Art. XX (Supp. No. 81) as of July 2026. If a detail matters to your decision, confirm the current text with the city first.
Call (727) 365-1803. See also tree service in Gulfport and tree removal in Gulfport.
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Reviews · Tree Removal Permits in Gulfport, FL
4.9
462 reviews on Google, the count on our public Google listing
“Happy trees did an amazing job cutting my trees and providing information. Steve was really nice and knowledgeable. Great communication and pricing. Definitely will be using their service again!!”
“Fast quote and when we decided it was time to remove our Oak, they were there on time and ready to get to work. They have all the equipment necessary for this huge job and work very efficiently.”
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