Do you need a permit to remove a tree in Cape Coral?
No — the City of Cape Coral doesn't permit tree trimming or removal on private residential property. That's the short answer. The long answer is the list of state rules and neighboring-jurisdiction permits that still apply, which is what this guide is for.
The city's position
Cape Coral does not require a permit to trim or remove trees on private residential property. The city said so publicly when Florida's tree-removal law changed in 2019, and nothing in the Land Development Code's landscaping chapter requires one for an existing single-family lot. On top of that, Florida Statute 163.045 — amended in 2022 to an "unacceptable risk" standard — bars any local government from requiring a permit, a fee or replanting when an ISA Certified Arborist or a Florida-licensed landscape architect documents, using the industry's tree risk assessment method, that a tree on residential property poses an unacceptable risk. So for a tree on your own lot in the Cape: no permit, no fee, no mitigation. Our arborist writes the 163.045 letter when a tree earns one, and only then.
What the city does require
The required trees at certificate of occupancy
Every new single-family home in Cape Coral has to be landscaped before its certificate of occupancy with one of four tree combinations — for instance three canopy trees, or two canopy and two accent trees, or one canopy, two accent and three palms — with minimum sizes (a canopy tree at least ten feet tall with a two-inch trunk, a palm at least sixteen feet overall) and at least half of them Florida natives. The code expects that landscaping to be maintained. Removing a required tree isn't permitted work, but if the lot drops below the count the city can ask you to replace it. We tell you which trees on a lot count, and what to plant when one comes out.
The prohibited list
Section 5.2.9 of the landscape code lists the invasive exotics every lot has to be cleared of before occupancy and kept free of "in perpetuity": Australian pine, melaleuca, Brazilian pepper, earleaf acacia, carrotwood, bishopwood, woman's tongue, java plum, rose apple, Chinese tallow, Cuban laurel fig, climbing ferns, air potato and more. There's no permit to remove them — the city wants them gone — and code compliance can cite a lot that's overgrown with them. See invasive removal.
Sight triangles and the right-of-way
Where your driveway meets the street, landscaping has to leave clear visibility between 30 inches and 8 feet above grade. Trimming existing vegetation in the public right-of-way and the swale is exempt from permit, and the city's tree-trimming program handles trees in medians and city rights-of-way (239-574-0401), but you're responsible for vegetation on your lot out to the pavement edge.
What the state requires on your lot
Burrowing owls
State-threatened and the city's official bird, with more than a thousand nesting pairs in Cape Coral. No clearing, mowing, grading, stump grinding or driving within 10 feet of an active burrow, and within 33 feet from February 15 to July 10. A burrow in the way of construction needs an FWC incidental take permit, issued as a last resort, with a mitigation payment and a starter burrow elsewhere on the lot. Harming an owl or collapsing a burrow is a state violation and a city ordinance offense ($500 fine or up to 60 days). See the owl guide.
Gopher tortoises
Also state-threatened. Twenty-five-foot no-disturbance buffer around a burrow; relocation under an FWC permit by an authorized agent if the burrow can't be avoided.
Bald eagles
Cape Coral's own ordinance sets an 1,100-foot management zone around active nests and can bar heavy construction within 350 feet from October 1 to May 15, in the plat units that have nests. Tree removal near a nest is a conversation with the city's planning division first.
Mangroves
Red, black and white mangroves along the canals are protected by the Florida Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. An owner can trim without a permit only a shallow fringe of trees under ten feet, cutting nothing below six feet; anything taller needs a registered Professional Mangrove Trimmer, trees over sixteen feet lose no more than a quarter of their foliage a year, and fines are per tree plus restoration. We don't trim mangroves and we refer the work.
Outside Cape Coral: the permits that do exist
- City of Fort Myers — a permit is required to remove native-species trees and to clear a lot; residential landscaping is exempt, and so is a 163.045-documented risk tree. We file it.
- Unincorporated Lee County (North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, San Carlos Park, Iona, Alva) — a vegetation removal permit for clearing a single-family lot of five acres or more (two acres on Pine Island, any lot on the named barrier islands), $30 plus $1 a tree, doubled after the fact; exotic removal permits carry no fee.
- Fort Myers Beach — any living woody plant ten feet tall with a four-inch trunk is protected; vegetation removal permit with a tree map.
- Sanibel — the strictest in the county: permits to remove protected natives, to prune more than 25 percent of one, to work seaward of the 1974 coastal construction line, to trim mangroves, or to machine-remove exotics.
- Bonita Springs — for a single-family home the building permit is the clearing permit; otherwise a vegetation removal permit.
- Estero — vegetation removal permit with a per-tree fee; single-family clearing form at five acres.
- Punta Gorda / Charlotte County — their own provisions, plus Punta Gorda Isles and Burnt Store association rules.
In every case, a tree that an ISA Certified Arborist documents as an unacceptable risk on residential property is exempt under state law. We check the parcel before we quote, and we file whatever applies.
Common questions
So I can cut down anything on my Cape Coral lot?
Any tree, yes, as far as the city is concerned — with the practical caveats that the lot should keep its required-tree count and lose its invasives, and the state's wildlife and mangrove rules apply regardless. The thing people get wrong isn't the tree; it's the owl burrow next to it.
What does a 163.045 letter actually say?
That an ISA Certified Arborist assessed the tree using the industry risk-assessment method and found it poses an unacceptable risk to people or property — meaning removal is the only practical way to bring the risk below moderate. It's written after an on-site assessment and only when the tree meets the standard; we don't write them to order.
My HOA says I need their approval. Do I?
If your deed restrictions say so, yes — HOA rules are a private contract and separate from the city. Most gated communities in the Cape and Fort Myers require architectural review for removals and have replacement rules. We write the arborist letter the committee wants.
Who do I call about a tree in the swale or the median?
Cape Coral Public Works' tree-trimming program, 239-574-0401, for trees in city rights-of-way, medians and cul-de-sacs. The vegetation on your lot out to the pavement edge is yours.
Related: Burrowing owls & lot clearing · Invasive removal · Fort Myers · The islands