Lutz feels like one place, with U.S. 41 running through the middle and Dale Mabry along part of its west side. On paper it is two. The Lutz census area counted 23,707 people in 2020, but the community runs past those lines and over the Hillsborough and Pasco county line. That split shapes almost every tree question a Lutz homeowner has.
Tree Service Tampa FL is a free phone line, not a tree service, and it does no cutting. Call (689) 407-5379, tell the automated assistant you are in Lutz, give your ZIP and say what the tree is doing, and the call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company that works in Lutz. That company looks at the tree, gives you its own price and is paid by you.
A railroad stop that became a community
The name Lutz seems to have appeared on a Florida map around 1909, on a depot of the Tampa Northern Railroad. W. P. Lutz is credited with bringing the railroad through. His brother Charles ran a sawmill near Odessa and in 1909 laid a tram about 10 miles east to carry lumber to the Tampa Northern line, which tells you what the land looked like then: pine woods.
The first residents moved in during January 1911, when people still called the area North Tampa. By 1912 they were holding a Fourth of July picnic at Deer Lake. The tradition lapsed and came back in 1946, and today's Independence Day celebration near the Lutz Train Depot and the library on West Lutz Lake Fern Road still ends with the tongue-in-cheek naming of the Guv'na of Lutz.
Hillsborough Lutz or Pasco Lutz
A Lutz mailing address does not settle it. Your tax bill does.
| Hillsborough County side | Pasco County side | |
|---|---|---|
| Who regulates trees | Unincorporated Hillsborough County | Unincorporated Pasco County, Land Development Code Section 802 |
| Home lot permit trigger | Generally 12 inches DBH or more; all street trees | Trees over 5 inches DBH, with exemptions |
| Exempt on a home lot | Check the county's Residential Tree Removal Guide | Palms, non-native trees, and pines other than longleaf pine |
| Special trees | Grand Oaks: oaks 34 inches or more in good condition | Longleaf pine stays regulated |
| Likely utility | Tampa Electric | Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative or Tampa Electric; check your bill |
On either side, Florida Statute 163.045 lets the owner of a single-family home skip the permit, fee and replanting when an ISA certified arborist or a Florida licensed landscape architect documents that the tree poses an unacceptable risk. DBH is trunk diameter measured 4.5 feet above the ground.
Working through the Hillsborough permit
Most of Lutz south of the line follows Hillsborough County. The county issues removal permits for trees that are unhealthy or causing damage that cannot be solved another way. Applications go through the county's HillsGovHub portal with an $81.65 fee, and the homeowner, the tree company or a certified arborist can file. Include an arborist's report and the county skips its own inspection and turns the application around in five days.
A very large oak on a Lutz lot may reach Grand Oak size. Those trees need a certified arborist's pruning affidavit before anything beyond minor pruning, which the county defines as cutting branches no thicker than 3 inches, and removal is much harder to get approved. If you have a giant oak, ask the company up front whether it may qualify.
On the Pasco side of Lutz
North of the line, Pasco County's tree code applies to every unincorporated parcel. Its Section 802 makes trees of 5 inches DBH and larger the regulated size, but on a single-family lot with a home already on it, palm trees and pine trees other than longleaf pine are exempt, along with non-native and invasive species. That covers a lot of what grows in a typical yard. Native hardwoods such as oaks and magnolias, and longleaf pines, are the ones that still need paperwork, so name the species when you call around.
- 5 inchesPasco's regulated trunk size
- PalmsExempt on Pasco single-family lots
- Longleaf pineThe pine Pasco still protects
Lines, lakes and storm season
Electric service in Lutz depends on the side of the line. Tampa Electric covers most of Hillsborough County. Pasco County has three electric providers, and the Pasco Economic Development Council lists Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative as the main provider for central and northern Pasco, with Tampa Electric serving parts of the county too. This page could not confirm a street by street split for Lutz, so the safest answer is the name printed on your bill.
If a limb brings down a wire
- Call 911 if the line is down or anyone is hurt.
- Tampa Electric: 877-588-1010 or text OUT to 27079; it says stay at least 30 feet away.
- WREC: (352) 567-5133; it says stay at least 50 feet away.
- Photograph the damage from where you are safe.
Hands off
- Do not touch anything a wire is lying on, including water.
- Do not try to free a line with a pole or rope.
- Do not cut branches near the service drop to your house; leave it to a company after the utility disconnects it.
- Do not let a crew start until the utility says it is safe.
Tampa Electric trims around its pole to pole lines but leaves the drop to the house to the owner; with about two weeks' notice at 813-635-1500 it can disconnect that drop so a company can work. On lake lots, also think about where a falling tree would land. A pine leaning toward the water or a dock is a different job from one leaning over open lawn, and a company may need to plan the cut around it.
UF/IFAS hurricane surveys rank live oak, sand live oak and cabbage palm among the most wind-firm trees and laurel oak among the weaker ones. That is a good reason to get big laurel oaks near the house looked at in spring, before the season starts on June 1.
Yard waste after the work
On the Hillsborough side, county trash service takes up to 2 cubic yards of yard waste a week from a household, more in late winter and spring, as long as limbs are under 4 feet long and 6 inches thick and containers stay under 50 pounds. Tree companies cannot put their debris through a resident's account; they pay to dump it at county facilities. On the Pasco side, unincorporated curbside service is provided by private haulers, so set-out rules come from your hauler.
So the quote matters. Ask whether the company chips the brush on site, hauls the logs, and grinds the stump, and get each item in writing. The removal cost guide and stump grinding page explain what those pieces usually involve.
Before you hire anyone in Lutz
- Pin down the countyLook at your tax bill and tell the company which side of the line you are on.
- Name the speciesA longleaf pine in Pasco or a possible Grand Oak in Hillsborough changes the paperwork.
- Check the wiresKnow your utility before any work near a line.
- Get proofInsurance certificates and arborist credentials, checked by you.
Check the company yourself. Florida has no statewide license for tree trimming or tree removal, so a truck and a business card prove very little. Ask the company for a certificate of general liability insurance sent by its insurance agent, proof of workers' compensation coverage, and the ISA certification number of its arborist. A company that sprays or treats trees for hire needs a pesticide license from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. You can confirm an ISA certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Not sure what the tree needs? Call and describe it. The company you are put through to looks at the tree and tells you the price before any work starts.
How a Lutz call works
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (689) 407-5379 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Tampa FL is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Tampa Bay area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Tampa FL a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.