Tree permits on the Grand Strand — seven jurisdictions, seven answers
The Strand packs more tree ordinances into sixty miles than anywhere else in South Carolina. Here is each one, from the code itself: what's protected, at what size, who approves it, what it costs, and what it costs to get it wrong.
The table
| Jurisdiction | Permit needed on a house lot for | Landmark / specimen | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Myrtle Beach | Live oak, white oak, E. red cedar, S. magnolia, bald cypress ≥ 4 in DBH | Live oak 25 in; laurel/willow oak, red cedar, magnolia, cypress 30 in; red maple, hickory 36 in; holly 20 in; dogwood 15 in — hazard/decline per certified arborist, or BZA | $10,000 per landmark tree; owner and cutter liable; topping = removal |
| Horry County (unincorporated) | Live oak ≥ 24 in DBH (since 2023; survey required) | Specimen live oak 24 in — ZBA variance or arborist-certified diseased/dying + county confirmation | No building permits on the parcel for 2 years; fee-in-lieu $150/tree, 2× live oak, 1.5× specimen |
| North Myrtle Beach | Any tree over 16 in caliper (pines exempt); 16–24 in permit + ½ in replacement per inch | Over 24 in — Board of Zoning Appeals | 2× caliper replacement; mitigation bank $300 per caliper inch |
| Conway | Dogwood/redbud ≥ 4 in; live oak, holly, magnolia, red maple, cypress, river birch, sycamore, cottonwood, tulip, red cedar, tupelo, ironwood ≥ 8 in; other oaks ≥ 14 in | Every live oak 24 in + the Oaks of Conway map — Tree Board; permit even to prune | 2× DBH (4–12 in), 3× (13 in+) replacement; permits free |
| Surfside Beach | Any tree over 8 in, or any limb over 8 in | Live oak, laurel oak, bald cypress over 24 in — ISA/forester/LA letter | $500 per limb, $2,500 protected, $10,000 landmark (rewrite pending) |
| Georgetown County (Waccamaw Neck) | Every tree ≥ 10 in except palmetto, Bradford pear, pecan, non-longleaf pine, sweetgum, crape/wax myrtle | Grand trees — BZA variances on non-SF parcels | Up to $500 per inch or $12,000/tree; permits withheld up to 3 years |
| Town of Pawleys Island | Hardwood ≥ 5 in; ornamental ≥ 3 in; pine ≥ 10 in; nothing in the setback border area without the ARB | Lot clearing prohibited | $500 per inch DBH; ARB may bar a contractor from the island |
City of Myrtle Beach
The city's zoning ordinance (Appendix A, Section 903) draws two lines on a single-family lot. 'Significant' trees — live oak, white oak, Eastern red cedar, Southern magnolia and bald cypress four inches or more in diameter at breast height — need a permit to remove, and the permit isn't tied to a building permit; you apply for the tree on its own. 'Landmark' trees are the big ones: live oak and white oak at 25 inches, laurel and willow oak, red cedar, magnolia and bald cypress at 30, red maple and hickory (not pecan) at 36, holly at 20, dogwood at 15. A landmark can only be removed if a certified arborist documents it as hazardous, diseased or declining, or by a Board of Zoning Appeals special exception. The permit reasons the city accepts are hazard, arborist-certified disease or decline, roots damaging structures or paving, a power-line easement, or a tree within 10 feet of the building footprint. Mitigation is replacement trees of 2.5-inch caliper — one for a tree under four inches, three for 4–8, four for 8–14, five over 14 — or $400 per tree if there's no room. A notice of completion is due within five days. The penalties are the strictest on the Strand: basal-area replacement plus $200 a tree, $10,000 per landmark tree, and the ordinance makes the owner and the tree cutter both liable. Topping, stubbing and lopping count as unauthorized removal, and paid tree businesses must follow ANSI A300. Planning & Zoning is at 921 North Oak Street, 843-918-1050; the tree and landscape compliance officer is at 843-918-1182.
Horry County (unincorporated)
Forestbrook, Socastee, Carolina Forest, Garden City, Little River, Longs, Burgess, Red Hill and everything else outside the town limits is under the county's land development regulations (Appendix B, Section 505), rewritten by Ordinance 44-2023 in May 2023 and again by Ordinance 23-2026 in June 2026. The headline: a live oak 24 inches or more in diameter is a 'specimen live oak,' the rule applies to any property including single-family lots, and a survey is required. A specimen can be removed only by a Zoning Board of Appeals variance — for hazard, required infrastructure, forestry practice, more than 12 inches of fill or four feet of cut, or reasonable use of the lot — or when an arborist certifies it diseased or dying and the county confirms it. The Garden City overlay has a footprint exception. The penalty for an illegal specimen removal is unusual and effective: no building permits or subdivision approval on that parcel for two years. The fee-in-lieu is $150 per replacement tree, doubled for live oaks, with a 1.5× multiplier for specimens. The county's broader protected-species list (laurel and water oak, pecan, red maple, cypress and others at 8 inches, specimens at 24) applies to nonresidential, multifamily and townhome projects on listed roads, not to house lots. Planning is at 843-915-5340.
North Myrtle Beach
The friendliest ordinance on the Strand, in Chapter 23, Article V.5, since 2002: a single-family or duplex lot can remove any tree up to 16 inches in caliper without a permit, and pines of any size are exempt. Trees 16 to 24 inches outside the house or pool footprint need a permit and half an inch of replacement caliper per inch removed; trees over 24 inches go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Dead and hazardous trees need written zoning approval and replacement. Other (non-residential) lots need a permit over 10 inches and must retain 160 caliper inches per acre. An illegal cut costs double the caliper in replacement trees (palms count a quarter), and the mitigation bank — for when replacement trees won't fit — is $300 per caliper inch as of Ordinance 25-03, January 6, 2025.
Conway
Conway's Unified Development Ordinance (Section 9.8, adopted December 2011, amended April 2025) protects trees on any lot: dogwood and redbud from four inches; live oak, holly, magnolia, red maple, bald cypress, river birch, sycamore, cottonwood, tulip poplar, red cedar, tupelo and ironwood from eight; all other oaks from 14. Every live oak 24 inches and up and every oak on the city's Oaks of Conway map is a landmark, and only the Tree Board can approve removing one — pruning a landmark needs a permit too. Permits are free and valid six months. Mitigation is inch for inch in four-inch trees, doubled for landmarks, within 12 months; violations are penalized at two times the diameter for 4-to-12-inch trees and three times for 13 inches and up. Topping and lion-tailing are banned. Paid tree workers sign an affidavit, with the permit or their business license, that they've read the ordinance and will follow ANSI A300. There's a storm waiver for declared emergencies. And the ordinance opens with the city's founding tree story: in 1887 a railroad crew came to cut the Wade Hampton Oak and Mrs. Mary Beaty met them with a shotgun — 'touch not a single bough.' Planning is at 843-488-9888.
Surfside Beach
Under Chapter 17, Article VII, an existing home lot needs a no-fee zoning permit to remove any tree over eight inches in diameter (25 inches in circumference at two feet) or to cut a limb over eight inches. A live oak, laurel oak or bald cypress over 24 inches is a landmark and needs a letter from an ISA arborist, a forester or a landscape architect. Topping is illegal except on crape myrtles. Permitted removals must be done by a licensed, bonded, insured company. Fines: $500 per limb, $500 for an unprotected tree, $2,500 for a protected or specimen tree, $10,000 for a landmark. A rewrite passed first reading 6–1 on August 10, 2026 that would require permits for trees from three inches, replace the $10,000 fine with the state's $500 municipal cap, bar violating contractors from permits for three years, and require emergency removals to be reported within seven days; second reading hadn't been confirmed when this was written. Check with the town.
Georgetown County — the Waccamaw Neck
Murrells Inlet south of the county line, Litchfield and Pawleys are under the county's zoning ordinance, Article XIII (Ordinance 23-24, final vote October 2023), which creates a Waccamaw Neck overlay from the Horry line to the Waccamaw River to the ocean. In it, every tree 10 inches and up is protected except palmetto, Bradford pear, pecan, pines other than longleaf, sweetgum, crape myrtle and wax myrtle. Occupied single-family lots still need a county removal permit, though no replacement is required. Pruning needs no permit; topping is banned; post-disaster removals are exempt. Fines run up to $500 per caliper inch — 24 inches is assumed if the stump is gone — or $12,000 per tree for an individual, and permits can be withheld on the parcel for up to three years. The Board of Zoning Appeals has required variances for a 24-inch oak cluster in Litchfield and a 25-inch water oak in Murrells Inlet on non-single-family parcels.
Town of Pawleys Island
The island itself is a separate town with the strictest small-lot rules on the coast (Article 12-11, Ordinance 2023-04, April 2023): protected trees are hardwoods from five inches, ornamentals from three, pines from 10. Nothing in the setback 'border area' can be removed without the Architectural Review Board unless an arborist documents a hazard or the tree is a USDA-listed invasive. Lot clearing is prohibited. The penalty is $500 per inch of diameter, and the ARB can bar a contractor from working on the island. The town is at 843-237-1698.
What this means in practice
Measure first. The thresholds are in diameter at breast height — 4.5 feet up — and a 23-inch oak is a different conversation than a 25. Identify the species, because 'live oak' triggers rules that 'laurel oak' doesn't in most towns, and 'pine' is exempt in North Myrtle Beach but not in Myrtle Beach on commercial lots. Know which side of a line you're on: the city line at Forestbrook, the county line through Murrells Inlet, the town line at Garden City. Document hazards before the cut, with photos and an arborist's assessment, so a genuinely dangerous tree is approved rather than fined. And hire a company that knows all of this — the fine lands on the owner, and in Myrtle Beach on the cutter too.
Common questions
Does an HOA approval count as a permit?
No. The HOA and the town are separate; you need both. Grande Dunes, Prince Creek, Litchfield Plantation and the rest generally won't approve what the town hasn't.
What about a tree on the right-of-way in front of my house?
It's the town's tree, not yours. In Myrtle Beach anything in the right-of-way over three inches is protected. We handle your side of the line and tell you which is which.
Do I need a permit to prune?
Usually not, if it's pruning to the standard. Conway requires one to prune a landmark. Myrtle Beach treats topping, stubbing or lopping a protected tree as a removal. Surfside requires a permit to cut any limb over eight inches.
A storm knocked the tree down. Do I still need a permit?
During a declared emergency the towns waive it (Conway's ordinance has a storm waiver, Georgetown County exempts post-disaster removals). Otherwise a tree that's actively failing is a hazard removal, which every town allows with documentation — so photograph it before anyone cuts.
Can the town really block my building permit for two years?
In Horry County, yes — that's the penalty for an illegal specimen live oak removal, written into the ordinance. It's why we survey before we clear.
Related: Permits & arborist reports · Live oak care · Lot clearing · Live oaks of the Grand Strand