Florida seawall rules, city by city
Florida Seawall Height Requirements
Florida seawall height requirements are set city by city, not by the state, and they run from a 5 foot NAVD88 minimum across most of Broward County to caps that stop a wall from going too high on the Gulf coast.
This page lists the coded rule for each city we track, with the code section, so you can check it before an engineer designs your wall.
Last checked October 28, 2026. Codes change, so confirm the figure with your city’s building department before you design.
- Minimums: most of Broward, Miami, Miami Beach, Delray Beach, North Palm Beach and Clearwater
- Maximums: Sarasota, Longboat Key, Holmes Beach, Anna Maria, Sanibel and Jupiter
- Both a floor and a ceiling: Pompano Beach, Marco Island, Cocoa Beach and Fort Lauderdale
- No coded height at all: Tampa, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Naples and the other cities listed below
Broward County: 5 feet, with a 2035 window
Broward County adopted a regional seawall standard on March 31, 2020 (County Code Ch. 39, Art. XXV): a 5 foot NAVD88 minimum, or 4 feet for applications filed before January 1, 2035 if the wall is designed to reach 5 feet by January 1, 2050. Cities had until February 13, 2022 to adopt their own versions, and several changed the details.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Dania Beach | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if it can reach 5 ft by 2050 | Sec. 12-87 |
| Deerfield Beach | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if built to reach 5 ft by 2050 | LDC Sec. 98-87 |
| Fort Lauderdale | 5 ft, or 4 ft before Jan. 1, 2035; no higher than the base flood elevation or 6 ft, whichever is lower | ULDR Sec. 47-19.13 |
| Hallandale Beach | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if it can reach 5 ft by 2050 | Sec. 8-90 |
| Hillsboro Beach | 5 ft with no 4 ft step; the cap must be able to rise 24 more inches | Sec. 12-268 |
| Hollywood | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if it can reach 5 ft by 2050 | Sec. 150.30 |
| Lauderdale-by-the-Sea | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if built to reach 5 ft by 2050; covers attached docks too | Ord. 2022-01 |
| Lighthouse Point | 4.0 ft minimum cap; owners may build to 5.0 ft | Sec. 42-381 |
| Oakland Park | 5.0 ft, or 4.0 ft before 2035 if it can reach 5.0 ft by 2050 | Sec. 14-1 |
| Pompano Beach | Between 5 ft and 5 ft 10 in, with no 4 ft option | Sec. 151.05 |
| Sea Ranch Lakes | 5 ft, or 4 ft before 2035 if it can reach 5 ft by 2050 | Sec. 6.01.06 |
| Wilton Manors | 5 ft for new or substantially rehabilitated walls | Sec. 11-27 |
Miami-Dade County
A 2022 county ordinance (22-141) set seawall crests at 6 inches above the County Flood Criteria for the land behind the wall, and the county map’s lowest value is 6.0 feet NAVD88. Cities without a figure of their own, including Aventura, Key Biscayne, North Miami, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Sunny Isles Beach, work through Miami-Dade DERM’s Class I permit.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Miami | 6 ft on tidally influenced property; the Miami River has its own standard | Sec. 29-89 |
| Coconut Grove | Follows City of Miami code: 6 ft on tidal bayfront | Sec. 29-89 |
| Miami Beach | 5.7 ft for new walls and substantial improvements; smaller repairs at 4 ft if designed to reach 5.7 ft | Sec. 54-62 |
| Coral Gables | 6 ft on the older NGVD datum, strong enough to support a 7.5 ft wall later | Zoning Sec. 3-706 |
Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast
North of Broward there is no county-wide figure, so the rule comes from each city, and many have none.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Boca Raton | Code says plus 5.00 ft with no datum named; engineering standards call for 4.0 to 6.0 ft, with room to add 12 to 18 in | City code and design standards |
| Delray Beach | 4.2 ft on most floodplain lots, designed to extend to at least 5 ft | LDR Sec. 7.1.7 |
| Jupiter | A ceiling, not a floor: the top of a new bulkhead sits at or below the base flood elevation | Sec. 27-2624 |
| North Palm Beach | 4 ft in most zones; 5 ft on the Intracoastal, Lake Worth and the ocean in flood hazard areas | Sec. 5-72 |
| Tequesta | 4 ft minimum cap once the job reaches half of replacement cost | Sec. 76-33 |
| Stuart | 4.0 ft on the NGVD 1929 datum on any navigable river or estuary | Sec. 10-170 |
Space Coast to St. Augustine
Along the Indian River Lagoon and the Halifax, coded heights are rare. These are the exceptions.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoa Beach | 3.9 ft minimum; maximum of 5 ft or the base flood elevation, whichever is greater | LDC Sec. 3-28 |
| Flagler Beach | A uniform 5 ft above mean low water on the Intracoastal | Sec. 22-55 |
| Palm Coast | 2.5 ft on the saltwater canals, or match the neighbors’ caps | LDC Sec. 4.01.06 |
| St. Augustine | Cap of 7 ft, or the lowest adjacent wall up to 10 ft (Conservation Overlay Zone 2) | Sec. 11-28 |
Southwest Florida and Sarasota Bay
On the Gulf side, the rule is more often a ceiling: how high a wall may go, so it doesn’t tower over the neighbors or block the view.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Marco Island | Between 3.2 and 4.2 ft for new or replacement walls | Sec. 6-85 |
| Bonita Springs | No more than 2 ft above the adjacent wall | LDC Sec. 7-359 |
| Sanibel | Maximum 4.5 ft for a new or repaired cap | Sec. 126-101 |
| Anna Maria | Maximum 4.5 ft including the cap | Sec. 110-69 |
| Holmes Beach | Up to 6 ft including the cap | Ch. 66, Art. IV |
| Longboat Key | Maximum 6 ft including the cap, up from 4.5 ft in 2024 | Sec. 151.03 |
| Sarasota | Maximum 7.27 ft; the city engineer can set a lower limit | Zoning Sec. VII-1304 |
Tampa Bay and the Panhandle
Pinellas beach towns measure from older tide datums, so read the unit before you compare numbers.
| City | Height rule (NAVD88 unless noted) | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | At least 6 ft above mean sea level on Clearwater Harbor, Clearwater Bay and the Gulf | CDC Sec. 3-602 |
| Gulfport | At least 3½ ft above mean high tide of the nearest tidal water | City standard (1962) |
| Madeira Beach | At least 4 ft 6 in above mean sea level (old USCGS datum), and no more than 12 in above the neighboring wall | Sec. 14-213 |
| Treasure Island | No coded minimum; the 2026 drainage manual asks walls to strive for 5.0 ft | Drainage manual (2026) |
| Gulf Breeze | No more than 2 ft above the landward grade and 4 ft above the seaward grade | Sec. 22-142 |
Cities with no coded seawall height
These codes set no minimum seawall elevation, so the engineer picks the cap height: Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach, Cape Canaveral, Daytona Beach, Edgewater, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville, Neptune Beach, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Naples, Port Charlotte, Englewood, Tampa, Dunedin, Safety Harbor. In those places, ask what height the design uses and how it compares to the walls on either side.
Read the datum before the number
Most figures above are NAVD88. Coral Gables and Stuart still write theirs on NGVD 1929, and in Miami-Dade NGVD sits about 1.55 feet off NAVD88, according to the county. Clearwater and Madeira Beach measure from mean sea level, Gulfport from mean high tide and Flagler Beach from mean low water.
Ask the engineer to state the cap height in NAVD88 and in the city’s own datum in the written scope, so the plans, the survey and the permit all agree.
When a repair has to meet the height
Most of these rules apply to new walls and substantial repairs. In Fort Lauderdale, work on more than half the shoreline, or costing more than half of replacement, is substantial and brings the whole wall up to the standard, and Oakland Park uses a similar 50 percent test. Pompano Beach raises the entire shoreline when a wall below 5 feet gets a substantial repair. North Palm Beach doesn’t apply its height rule to repairs under half of replacement cost.
Getting a wall designed to your city’s rule
We connect Florida waterfront owners with independent licensed marine contractors who design to the local rule and handle the permits. The inspection is free and the scope comes in writing. Start with seawall repair or your city’s page in the tables above.
Sources
Each row cites the section of the city’s code. The primary sources for the headline rules:
- Broward County: Regional Resilience Standard for Seawalls
- City of Fort Lauderdale: seawall elevation amendment FAQ
- City of Pompano Beach Code, Sec. 151.05 Tidal Flood Barriers
- Village of Sea Ranch Lakes, Sec. 6.01.06 Walls, Fences, Hedges and Seawalls
- City of Miami Beach: Rising Above, Seawalls
- City of Miami: seawall ordinance (Sec. 29-89)
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