Often, yes. Inside Tampa city limits, protected and grand trees generally require city review before a healthy specimen can be removed. Trees that are genuinely dead, dying or hazardous are treated differently. The rules are stricter inside the city than in unincorporated Hillsborough County, and Temple Terrace has its own separate ordinance.
What counts as a grand tree in Tampa?
Tampa singles out very large, healthy specimens of protected species for the strongest protection, and removing one is a serious piece of paperwork rather than a formality. Trunk diameter is the usual threshold, measured at breast height. If you have a mature live oak in a Tampa front yard, assume it is in scope until somebody confirms otherwise.
Does a dead or dangerous tree still need a permit?
Dead, dying and genuinely hazardous trees are handled under a different path from healthy protected ones, which is what makes an honest assessment worth having in writing. Documentation matters here: photographs of the defect, the fungal conks, the lean or the cracked union support the case that a tree qualifies.
City of Tampa versus unincorporated Hillsborough County
This trips people up constantly, because a Tampa mailing address does not mean you are inside the city limits. Much of Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, Seffner and Lutz is unincorporated county, where the county's rules apply instead of the city's. Temple Terrace is its own municipality with its own tree code. Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes are Pasco County entirely.
What about HOA rules?
Separate from any city or county requirement, and they often go further. Westchase, Carrollwood Village and many of the newer planned communities have architectural committees that want written notice, a scope of work and proof of contractor insurance before tree work goes ahead, and some expect a replacement planting. We provide that paperwork as a matter of course; the approval itself comes from the association.