Zoning (Unincorporated Brevard) — Brevard County, Florida

Brevard County zones only unincorporated land; property inside Palm Bay, Melbourne, Malabar, Grant-Valkaria or another city or town is zoned by that municipality under its own code.

The county rule sits in Chapter 62, Article VI of the Brevard County Code. Section 62-1253 says the use of all land within the unincorporated areas of the county stays controlled by the zoning classification shown for it on the official zoning maps, and Section 62-1251 makes the county zoning official the custodian of those maps (Brevard County Code, Municode). State law draws the same line: section 163.3171 of the Florida Statutes has each municipality exercise planning authority for the area under its jurisdiction and each county for its unincorporated area, unless a city and the county sign a joint agreement.

The Brevard County Planning and Zoning Office works from the county government complex at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera. Its variance page lists (321) 633-2070 and Zoning@BrevardFL.gov for consultations and points owners to the GIS Zoning and FLU Interactive Map to find a parcel's official zoning classification, the starting point for any owner near Palm Bay or Micco checking how a lot is classified.

Under the Brevard County Code, future land use on the comprehensive plan map sets the ceiling on density, and every zoning classification on the official zoning map must be consistent with it.

Section 62-1255(b) of the Brevard County Code says the 1988 county comprehensive plan establishes the future land use designations shown on the future land use map, and that zoning classifications must match that map and the policies for applying it (Sec. 62-1255). Florida law backs this up: section 163.3194 of the Florida Statutes requires all land development regulations to be consistent with the adopted comprehensive plan and sends any new regulation or amendment to the local planning agency for review first. In Brevard, that role belongs to the Planning and Zoning Board/Local Planning Agency, whose special hearings cost $3,692 (county fee schedule).

The code allows higher figures in some places, such as 37.5 units per acre for a planned unit development in Residential 30 and 50 units per acre for mixed-use development in the Merritt Island redevelopment area. The Viera office takes rezonings, comprehensive plan amendments and variances on one Application for Zoning Action, Comprehensive Plan Amendment, or Variance form (Zoning Applications and Fees).

Brevard County Code Section 62-1255 sets eight families of zoning classifications for unincorporated land: agricultural and residential, multifamily, mobile home and RV park, planned unit development, commercial, tourist commercial, industrial and special classes.

The rural end of the Brevard list starts with GU general use, PA productive agricultural, AGR agricultural and AU agricultural residential. GU covers rural single-family homes and unimproved land with no definite current proposal for development (Brevard County Code Sec. 62-1331). Suburban and urban single-family classes run from SEU and SR through EU and the RU-1 series, multifamily runs from RU-2-4 to RU-2-30, and planned developments include PUD, RPUD and the THPUD class for tiny house developments. Commercial land is BU-1-A, BU-1 or BU-2, tourist land TU-1 or TU-2, industrial land PBP, PIP, IU or IU-1, and the special classes are EA environmental area, GML government managed lands and IN institutional (Sec. 62-1255).

Each class in the Brevard code lists permitted uses, permitted uses with conditions, conditional uses that need a public hearing, a minimum lot and setbacks. AU, for example, allows agricultural pursuits, the raising and grazing of animals and beekeeping on land of at least two and one-half acres, while RU-1-7 allows one single-family home on 5,000 square feet (Brevard County Code, Division 4).

The Brevard County Code gives unincorporated land six mobile home and RV classes, RRMH, TR-1 and TR-1-A, TR-2, TR-3, TRC-1 and RVP, and the code also allows manufactured homes in the ARR agricultural rural residential class.

The Brevard County mobile home code, Subdivision IV splits the classes by lot size and ownership, and the GIS Zoning and FLU Interactive Map shows which code applies to a given parcel. The RRMH-1, RRMH-2.5 and RRMH-5 rural residential mobile home classes cover single-family mobile home development of spacious character on lots of 1, 2.5 or 5 acres, and they also permit agricultural uses. TR-1 and TR-1-A are mobile home subdivisions on lots of 7,500 and 5,000 square feet, and they also allow a site-built detached home with at least 600 square feet of floor area. TR-2 calls for one-half acre, TR-3 covers mobile home parks, TRC-1 covers mobile home cooperatives on lots of at least 6,000 square feet, and RVP covers recreational vehicle parks.

Mobile home parks in TR-3 have a cap on additions: no attachment or combination of attachments and accessory structures may exceed 50 percent of the square footage of a doublewide or 100 percent of a singlewide, with carports and garages left out of the count. A rezoning to a mobile home park or cooperative costs $1,408 plus $24 per acre at the Viera office, against $849 plus $24 per acre over five for a single-family mobile home class (Brevard County zoning fees).

A Brevard County rezoning starts with an owner application to the Planning and Zoning Office in Viera, goes to a public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Board, and ends with a decision by the Board of County Commissioners.

Under Brevard County Code Sec. 62-1151, the application carries the owner's name, written consent from all owners when someone else applies, the legal description with a certified survey or the Property Appraiser map, the current and requested classes and a recorded warranty deed; commercial and industrial requests also need a certified wetlands delineation. Notice goes to the applicant and runs once in a newspaper at least 15 days before the hearing, a notice is posted at the county courthouse in Titusville, and the applicant posts a sign on the land within ten feet of the road right-of-way.

The Planning and Zoning Board weighs the surrounding land use, changed conditions, traffic, water and sewer, compatibility with land use plans and the public health, safety and welfare, then recommends approval or denial. The county commission may grant or deny regardless of that recommendation, and after a denial the same parcel cannot come back for six calendar months unless the commission waives the wait. The Viera office lists these application fees:

Variances from Brevard County zoning are decided by the Board of Adjustment at the Government Center on Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera, while small setback or lot-size shortfalls can be waived administratively by the zoning official.

The Board of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial body of five regular members plus alternates appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, with power over variances to the Zoning Code and Sign Code in Chapter 62, Articles 6 and 9. It usually meets on the third Wednesday of the month in Building C of the Brevard County Government Center, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way. The variance process page defines a variance as a waiver for a hardship from special conditions not caused by the applicant, and it requires the application form, a deed recorded with the Brevard County Clerk of Courts, a Variance Hardship Worksheet, the legal description and a certified survey. The first variance or appeal costs $598, each extra variance on the same application $182, and a special hearing $1,872. Anyone may appeal the board's decision within thirty days, before building permits are approved.

For minor problems, Brevard County Code Sections 62-1153 and 62-1154 let the zoning official waive up to ten percent of a required setback in residential classes, or of a required minimum lot size, width or depth, with signed no-objection affidavits from the abutting owners; without those signatures the request goes to the Board of Adjustment (Brevard County Code). The Viera office charges $277 for an administrative waiver of setbacks, lot size or dimensions (fee schedule). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Brevard County Planning and Zoning website and the Brevard County Code on Municode.