Not my cup of tea but it worked for these guys for 30+ years. 

I appreciate any insights y'all might have, and apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Fuel for the day: A little English Breakfast aged tea, full fat cream, and, my favorite, raw unadulterated organic honey.

Hire an excavator or bulldozer and leave big trees.  

I probably should've made this post prior to purchasing but as they say, the next best time to plant a tree is today.

The idea behind this isn't novel of course, but a way to circumvent the endless and crowded sea of opinions and narrative shaping charlatans that make their daily bread by deluding the curious minds of some vague one-size-fits-all approach... but oak trees don't grow over night. 

Trim your trees and landscaping. 

Tree clearing, grubbing, moving dirt for cut/fill operations, storm water, power, gas, water, fire access etc. not a small task but doable.  

We have shaken the trees as much as possible but from the Board of Commissioners, Director of Public Works, Manager of Building Dept to the assigned plan examiner, they have closed ranks on us and given us the boilerplate response of "you're in line, wait your turn."

Consider the time, effort, and expense to develop a concept plan to include site drawings, home types, homes per acre, site storm water retention plan, tree save areas, conservation areas, wetland setbacks, time considerations for meetings with county land use planners, negotiating easements for utilities, rezoning meetings with county council, revisions to your plans to meet demands of neighbors, planners and/or county council, and hopefully getting a final approval for your project.