It is one of the first questions people ask when they call us about taking a tree down: am I allowed to, or do I need a permit first? The honest answer is that it depends. A small tree in your own yard is usually your business. A large, healthy oak can be another matter, and the rules are different again if the tree has become genuinely dangerous or if your property sits inside a city. This is a plain guide to how tree removal permits work in Citrus County. It is not legal advice, and the county is always the final word, but it should tell you which situation you are in before you pick up the phone. Broadway Tree Care handles tree removal across the county and can look at your tree first.
The short answer, before the detail
Three things decide it. How big the tree is, whether the ground it stands on is in unincorporated county or inside a city, and whether the tree has become a real danger. Get those three straight and you will know which rule applies to you. The rest of this page walks through each one.
Unincorporated Citrus County and the four-inch rule
Most of the county, including the land around Crystal River, Homosassa, Lecanto, Beverly Hills and Hernando that is not inside a city, falls under the county tree ordinance. The county calls any perennial woody plant that measures four inches or more across a protected tree, and it measures that width at breast height, which it sets at four and a half feet above the ground. Removing a protected tree usually calls for an individual tree removal permit from the county unless the tree is exempt.
The county runs this as a tiered system rather than a flat fee. Depending on the tree, you may be able to keep it with no permit fee, replace it on your own property, or pay a mitigation fee that scales with the size and number of trees coming out, which the county puts toward planting trees in public spaces. Residential permits can also come with a voucher for a couple of replacement saplings. The office that handles all of this is the Citrus County Building Division, at 352-527-5310 or permit@citruscounty.gov, and they will tell you exactly what your tree needs.
It is worth taking this seriously rather than guessing. Clearing a protected tree without the permit it needed can bring county penalties, and those are a lot more expensive than the phone call would have been.
The Florida rule for a genuinely dangerous tree
There is a separate path for a tree that has become a hazard, and it comes from state law rather than the county. Under Florida statute 163.045, a local government cannot require a notice, permit, fee or replanting to prune, trim or remove a tree on single-family residential property if the owner holds documentation that the tree poses an unacceptable risk. The catch is in what counts as documentation. It has to be an on-site risk assessment by an arborist certified through the International Society of Arboriculture or by a Florida-licensed landscape architect, and it has to be signed by that professional. A tree qualifies only when removal is the practical way to bring its risk below moderate.
In plain terms, this is the rule that lets you take down the leaning, half-failed tree over your bedroom without waiting on paperwork, as long as the right professional has put their assessment in writing. It applies to single-family homes, not to every piece of property, and a phone opinion does not meet the standard. If you think a tree may be at that point, the signs are usually visible, and it is worth reading up on what a failing tree looks like and getting eyes on it quickly.
Inside a city, the rules can change
If your property sits inside the city limits of Crystal River or Inverness, or over in Dunnellon on the Marion County side, the county ordinance may not be the one that governs you. Incorporated cities can and often do set their own tree rules, their own protected sizes and their own permit offices. It is a short step people miss, and it is the reason two neighbors a mile apart can get different answers. If you are not sure whether you are in the county or a city, that is another good question for the Building Division, or for your city hall.
Trees that usually stay simple
Plenty of removals never touch a permit desk. A tree under the protected size is generally outside the rule, and the county keeps its own list of exemptions on top of that. Because that list is set by the county and can change, the safe move is always a quick call to confirm your specific tree rather than reading a rule off a website, this one included. The two things you can rely on are the four-inch protected size and the state hazard path above.
How we help before you deal with any of it
Here is where we fit. We are a tree crew, not a permit office, so we do not issue permits and we are not the ones who sign a state hazard assessment, which has to come from a certified arborist or a licensed landscape architect. What we can do is come out, walk the tree, and tell you plainly what we see, whether it looks like a hazard, whether it could be cabled and braced instead of removed, or whether a health assessment would settle it. If the tree does need to come down, we quote the removal on site and in writing, and if it is an emergency we treat it like one. When a permit is part of the job, we will point you to the right county or city office so nothing gets missed.