Docks, seawalls and shoreline permits — Palm Bay, Florida

A dock, pier, boathouse or boat lift in Palm Bay needs a City of Palm Bay building permit plus a state and federal dock permit or exemption letter.

Section 174.011(N) of the Palm Bay Land Development Code says a city building permit shall be obtained for the construction of any pier, dock, or boathouse, and that no application is complete without a survey and detailed plans (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). Section 174.011(O) then names the other three approvals: the St. Johns River Water Management District, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. These rules took their current numbering when Palm Bay adopted Chapter 174 on September 19, 2024.

The Palm Bay Building Department handles the city permit from 110 Malabar Road SE, phone 321-953-8924, and every document is uploaded through the iMS portal (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet). The department's submittal sheet lists agency phone numbers for the outside approvals: SJRWMD at 321-984-4940 (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet), the Army Corps of Engineers at 321-504-3771 and the Florida DEP at 407-897-2947 (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet).

In Palm Bay a private dock or pier may cover no more than 12 times its length or 800 square feet, whichever is greater, and a boat lift or boathouse may rise no more than 20 feet above the high-water line.

Section 174.011 sets the numbers that shape every Palm Bay dock drawing. The deck may sit no higher than four feet above the mean or ordinary high-water line, and pilings and a guard rail may extend up to four feet above the deck (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). The guard rail may be no more than 25 percent opaque, so solid privacy panels along a dock rail do not meet the code. Every dock, pier and boathouse must be at least three feet wide.

Boathouses in Palm Bay must stay open. The code prohibits boathouses or other structures with walls or sides, allows only one covered boathouse on, abutting or serving a lot, and counts overhangs in the square footage (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). A covered boathouse is capped at 1,000 square feet, and marinas approved by the Palm Bay City Council as a conditional use are exempt from the dock area formula.

Palm Bay docks must respect neighbors' riparian rights, reach no more than a third of the waterway's width and keep 25 feet from any marked channel, while other structures stay 25 feet back from Turkey Creek and the Indian River.

The Palm Bay waterfront setback is written into section 173.022. All structures shall maintain a 25-foot setback from the mean high-water line of the Indian River, Palm Bay and Turkey Creek, and a district that requires more wins (Palm Bay LDC section 173.022).

Use is limited as well. Only the mooring of boats and recreational, pleasure or sport fishing use of a Palm Bay dock is permitted as an accessory use, and more than one dock, pier or boathouse on a lot is treated as a marina (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). Section 174.011(D) points to Chapter 173 to determine where marinas are allowed, and Table 173-2 lists marinas and wet and dry boat storage as conditional uses in some Palm Bay office, commercial and mixed-use districts (Palm Bay LDC Table 173-2).

Larger waterfront projects carry their own rules. A Palm Bay waterfront planned unit development must provide public access to the waterfront, and projects between Dixie Highway NE (U.S. 1) and the Indian River Lagoon must keep at least 30 percent of the frontage open for views of the water (Palm Bay LDC section 173.068).

Canals inside Palm Bay are often not city property. The Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District includes portions of the City of Palm Bay, the City of West Melbourne and unincorporated Brevard County, and it owns and maintains over 2,300 acres of canal rights-of-way in 163 miles of canals (Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District). The district issues permits to authorize work within any of its rights-of-way (MTWCD permitting), and the Palm Bay Building Department will not issue permits that need temporary access along a Melbourne-Tillman canal until the district permit is in hand; the district number is (321) 723-7233 (City of Palm Bay Building Department).

A Palm Bay dock application needs a boundary survey of the waterfront, dimensioned plans of the dock, lift and seawall, and any septic approval (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet).

The survey must show the straight-line water frontage, the mean high or ordinary water lines, seawalls, bulkheads, property lines, the width of the waterway and all existing structures (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet). If the Palm Bay lot has a septic tank, the survey must carry an approval from Environmental Health (321-633-2100). The plans must show the height, width and length of pilings, boat lifts, platforms, pavilions and seawalls, with construction specifications.

All documents are submitted electronically through the iMS portal, and Palm Bay requires plans digitally signed and sealed by a Florida licensed architect or engineer, and approvals from other city departments must be obtained before the permit is issued (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet). A recorded Notice of Commencement is required if the job is valued at more than $5,000. Work touching a city right-of-way may also need a Palm Bay Public Works right-of-way use permit (321-952-3403) (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet).

One detail on the Palm Bay sheet lags the code. The Building Department checklist still cites sections 170.141, 170.142 and 170.999 of the City Code of Ordinances for dock design (Palm Bay Building Department dock submittal sheet), while the adopted Land Development Code now carries the dock standards as section 174.011 (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011).

Florida exempts many small private docks and seawall restorations on Palm Bay waterfronts from state environmental permits (Florida Statutes section 403.813), but a city building permit is still required for any pier, dock or boathouse (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011).

Under section 403.813, a private dock built on pilings is exempt if it has 1,000 square feet or less of over-water surface area, or 500 square feet or less in an Outstanding Florida Water, and meets the other listed conditions (Florida Statutes section 403.813). Floating boat lifts can qualify if, among other conditions, they sit within a previously permitted boat slip or do not exceed a combined total of 500 square feet, or 200 square feet in an Outstanding Florida Water. Palm Bay's own code still requires a dock permit and submerged land lease or exemption letter from the state and federal agencies for all proposed construction of piers, docks or boathouses (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011).

Seawalls on Palm Bay lots are treated differently by water type. The statute exempts the restoration of seawalls at their previous locations or upland of, or within 18 inches waterward of, their previous locations (Florida Statutes section 403.813). New private docks of 1,000 square feet or less and seawalls in artificially created waterways are exempt when they do not harm water quality, navigation or flood control, but that exemption does not apply to vertical seawalls in estuaries or lagoons unless the site is an existing manmade canal already lined in whole or part with vertical seawalls. That limit covers the Palm Bay shoreline on the Indian River Lagoon.

When a Palm Bay dock, pier or boathouse is finished, an engineer or surveyor must certify an as-built survey showing it meets the setbacks, and the Building Division gives final approval (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011).

Maintenance is a continuing rule in Palm Bay. Section 174.011(L) bars owners from letting a dock become dilapidated, deteriorated, structurally unsound or a safety hazard, and requires docks to be kept free from debris and signage (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). All pilings and other mooring devices in a Palm Bay waterway must be marked with red or yellow reflectors or other reflectorized markings on each side, including along Turkey Creek and the lagoon.

Lighting rules protect waterfront neighbors in Palm Bay. Any light on a pier, dock or boathouse must be shielded or shaded so the source does not shine directly into adjacent homes (Palm Bay LDC section 174.011). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay Building Department website and the adopted Palm Bay Land Development Code.