Pasco County commissioners have unanimously approved a rewrite of the county’s tree preservation ordinance, raising the cost for developers to remove trees and creating new incentives to keep them standing.
The board voted 5-0 at its March 24 meeting in New Port Richey to adopt the updated Tree Mitigation Ordinance, overhauling Land Development Code Section 802 for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Under the new rules, developers will pay $75 per inch of trunk diameter to remove a tree, up from $50. Heritage trees carry a $150-per-inch removal fee. On the flip side, developers who preserve heritage trees will receive $300 per inch, and those who keep trees 10 inches in diameter or larger within required perimeter landscaping and screening along arterial and collector roads will receive $150 per inch…