Certificate of Use in Fort Pierce

A Certificate of Use: the City of Fort Pierce stopped collecting Business Tax Receipts on July 1, 2024, and Ordinance 24-019 now requires a Certificate of Use for all businesses (Fort Pierce Applications and Forms page).

The City Clerk's Applications and Forms page, titled Certificates of Use and Contractor Licensing, says the City Commission adopted Ordinance 24-019 to put the certificate in the receipt's place. Only one certificate is required per business location, and the page's own example is a law firm that needs a single Certificate of Use for the office rather than a separate business tax receipt for each attorney, as was previously required (Certificates of Use and Contractor Licensing).

The switch also carried a cutoff for existing Fort Pierce businesses. Any business tax receipt holder who did not obtain a Certificate of Use by November 30, 2024 has to apply for a new certificate and go through all required inspections as if it were a new business (Applications and Forms page).

Fort Pierce takes Certificate of Use applications only through its online EnerGov self service portal, where the owner registers an account and then applies for the business license that fits (Fort Pierce Applications and Forms page).

The same portal is the city's Enterprise Permitting and Licensing system, whose Fort Pierce help page links a PDF manual titled Apply for a License alongside guides for creating an account and scheduling an inspection, with Spanish and Creole translation instructions (Fort Pierce EPL page). The city recommends Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome for the portal.

Three rules on the Applications and Forms page shape the paperwork. Only one Certificate of Use is required per business location. Each certificate is valid for one year. Renewal comes annually on the anniversary of the first application rather than on a single citywide date. Questions go to the City Clerk's Office at cityclerk@cityoffortpierce.com or 772.467.3065 (Applications and Forms page).

Zoning comes first, with the Fort Pierce Planning Department confirming the zoning district and whether the use is allowed (Fort Pierce FAQ, opening a commercial business).

The city FAQ tells a new Fort Pierce commercial business to look up the property on the Planning Department page, then email the address or property ID with details of the proposed business to planning@cityoffortpierce.com (Fort Pierce FAQ).

Moving into a space that was used for something else can add a building permit. The Fort Pierce Building Department's change of use, occupancy and interior completion checklist lists pre-approval by the Planning Department, by Engineering when a commercial job has exterior work and by the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority when electrical or plumbing work is planned (Fort Pierce change of use checklist).

That Fort Pierce checklist asks for the business name, the occupancy group, the number of stories, the building's total square footage and the valuation, together with signed and sealed plans by a Florida licensed architect or engineer and a signed and sealed Life Safety Plan. The Fire Department reviews the packet at the same time and charges its own fees, and a building in a special flood hazard area is subject to substantial damage and improvement review (change of use checklist, updated 8/3/26).

Yes: the St. Lucie County Tax Collector says a business inside Fort Pierce city limits needs a county Local Business Tax Receipt in addition to the city's own approval (St. Lucie County Tax Collector, Local Business Tax).

The Tax Collector's page lists the city of Fort Pierce among the places where a county receipt is required, tells applicants to determine whether the business is in Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie Village or the unincorporated county, and gives the City of Fort Pierce Certificate of Use phone as 772-467-3065. New county receipts are applied for online from the same page (Tax Collector Local Business Tax page). St. Lucie County's own Starting a Business page says County Ordinance 07-016 requires a county receipt for all businesses located in the county, and that a professional paid on a W-2 by another business does not need one, while one paid on an IRS 1099 does (St. Lucie County Starting a Business page).

Fort Pierce pages describe the city license in two ways. A Code Enforcement FAQ answers that a St. Lucie County business tax receipt holder needs one for the City of Fort Pierce too if the business is located within Fort Pierce city limits (Fort Pierce code enforcement FAQ), and the Information Center FAQ says any business in Fort Pierce city limits needs a Fort Pierce Business Tax Receipt and ends its zoning answer with an instruction to apply for one (Fort Pierce FAQ). The City Clerk's Applications and Forms page says the city discontinued collection of Business Tax Receipts as of July 1, 2024 and requires a Certificate of Use under Ordinance 24-019 (Fort Pierce City Clerk).

A Fort Pierce home occupation must stay inside the enclosed living area of the home or the garage, under city code section 125-318 as quoted on the Common Violations page (Fort Pierce Common Violations page).

The same section, as the Fort Pierce page prints it, bars changing the outside of the home in a way that makes it look less residential through colors, materials, construction or lighting, bars signs on the lot that are readily visible from the street, bars any outside storage tied to the business, and bars traffic, noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors or electrical interference beyond what is normal for the zoning district (Common Violations, section 125-318).

A related Fort Pierce rule catches home based trades with work trucks. Section 125-315(i)(2)(b) makes it unlawful to park a commercial vehicle or semitrailer on residential property for more than one hour in any 24 hour period unless it is in an enclosed garage, or a permit is first obtained from the city police department (Common Violations, commercial vehicles).

Fort Pierce contractors apply for a Professional Contracting License through the same portal as the Certificate of Use (Fort Pierce Applications and Forms page).

The City Clerk's Office confirms whether a contractor is licensed with the City of Fort Pierce at 772-467-3065, according to the city FAQ (Fort Pierce FAQ on contractor licensing). The Building Department fee schedule lists certificate of competency fees under its Contractor Licensing Fees heading.

The Fort Pierce schedule also sets contractor citations at $500.00 for a first offense, $750.00 for a second and $1000.00 for the third and later (Fort Pierce fee schedule, contractor licensing). Vendors, solicitors and canvassers are a separate case: the city FAQ says they may operate within the City of Fort Pierce once they hold a permit, with applications available through the City Clerk's Office (Fort Pierce FAQ on vendors).

Fort Pierce can issue a civil citation, and its Citation Process page lists Chapter 22, business tax receipts, as a Class II violation (Fort Pierce Citation Process page).

A Class II citation in Fort Pierce costs $100.00 for a first offense and $200.00 for a second, with a court hearing mandatory after that (Fort Pierce Citation Process page).

The same Fort Pierce page says a disputed citation goes to a Special Magistrate in the City Hall Commission Chambers on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 9:00 am, and that a citation requiring mandatory court is filed with the St. Lucie County Clerk of Court and heard by a county judge (Citation Process page). The code enforcement guide covers the full citation process.

Last verified: October 22, 2026, with the Fort Pierce Certificate of Use rules read from the City Clerk's Applications and Forms page and checked against the city FAQs, the change of use checklist, the Common Violations and Citation Process pages, the July 2025 fee schedule, and the St. Lucie County Tax Collector and county Starting a Business pages.