Driveway Culverts and Swales in Port St. Lucie

The property owner does: Port St. Lucie makes swale upkeep and driveway culvert maintenance the landowner's job, from the edge of the pavement to the property line (Port St. Lucie Stormwater page).

The city ties that duty to City Code Section 41.08. The Residential Culvert Assistance Program page quotes Section 41.08(H)(1) as requiring homeowners to maintain and replace culverts as needed so they do not obstruct stormwater flow through the swale, and it defines a driveway culvert as a pipe beneath a driveway that lets rainwater flow through the swale (Residential Culvert Assistance Program). The Swale Liner and Driveway Culverts page adds that the city will keep performing supplemental maintenance at the level of service residents currently have until the City Council gives further direction, and that it provides supplemental cleaning each year (Swale Liner and Driveway Culverts page).

The swale in front of a Port St. Lucie house is part of a large public system. The Public Works Drainage Division maintains 1,200 miles of swale drainage, which the city calls the tertiary system, along with 158 miles of drainage rights-of-way and 200 miles of waterways and city-owned canals (Drainage, Roadway, Mowing and Landscape Maintenance page). The same page says the division installs side lot ditch piping and street culverts and eliminates cross-street paved swales. The Stormwater page counts more than 6,000 culverts and over 180 control structures in the city system.

For day-to-day care, the Port St. Lucie swale checklist asks owners to keep swales and driveway culverts free of rocks, grass, sediment, litter, branches, leaves and limbs; to keep landscaping out of the swale; not to fill the swale or let its side slopes erode; not to drive or park on it; and not to place sprinkler heads in it (swale care list). Standing water when it has not rained is a sign to reduce irrigation, the same list says.

Port St. Lucie defines a failed culvert as a collapsed driveway or a blocked pipe that is not conveying the designed drainage capacity (Residential Culvert Assistance Program FAQ).

A failed culvert is handled as a Port St. Lucie code matter. The assistance program serves homeowners with active code compliance cases, and its application review checks two things: that an active code compliance case exists and that the culvert is confirmed to be in a failed state (program steps). The program's disclaimer says an applicant who proceeds without an active code violation acknowledges that an official inspection will be scheduled, and that if the culvert is deemed failed, a formal code violation is issued with a one-year deadline to resolve it.

Owners who see a problem can contact the Public Works culvert line at 772-871-7655, with 772-871-1775 as the alternate number, or email pwculverts@cityofpsl.com, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Residential Culvert Assistance Program contacts). Dumping into the drainage system is a separate matter: the Public Works FAQs list 772-871-5100 and the 1PSL app for reporting illicit discharges into canals, lakes and ditches (Public Works FAQs).

The Port St. Lucie Residential Culvert Assistance Program listed two open options on October 22, 2026: a 10-year interest-free tax-bill loan and a five-year CDBG forgivable loan (Residential Culvert Assistance Program).

Every row comes from the Residential Culvert Assistance Program page. Both options share the same screens: the property cannot be in foreclosure, no bankruptcy affecting it can be pending, mortgage payments and property taxes must be current, and the property must carry a code violation for a failed culvert. The page says assistance is limited and first come, first served, and that funding and eligibility are not guaranteed.

The Port St. Lucie tax-bill loan can be paid off early through arrangements with the St. Lucie Tax Collector's office, and it is not transferable. The page describes the assessment as a lien equal in rank and dignity with county taxes and superior to all other liens and claims until paid (program FAQ). Under the forgivable loan, a sale or transfer before the loan is fully forgiven means the prorated unforgiven balance is repaid at closing, and the same applies when a refinance pays the homeowner cash.

The CDBG option caps combined gross household income by household size, from $57,350 for one person to $108,150 for eight, as posted by the city on October 22, 2026 (Residential Culvert Assistance Program income limits).

The Port St. Lucie limits come from the program page, which defines income as all gross wages, income from assets and resources, or benefits as determined by HUD, and counts every household member. The page also notes that financial information may be subject to public records requests under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.

City staff inspect the property and price the repair, the owner signs the agreement, and the city's approved contractor installs the new culvert and driveway in the right-of-way within six months of the agreement or within the current fiscal year (Residential Culvert Assistance Program steps).

The Port St. Lucie program page sets out five steps: apply, property evaluation with a cost estimate for repairs within the right-of-way, finalizing the agreement, installation and a final inspection. Permits and inspections are managed by the city and its approved contractor, and after the final inspection the city closes the permit and notifies the Code Compliance Division to close the code case (program steps).

Port St. Lucie culvert work must meet city standards and reuse the existing pipe and driveway size, decorative driveways are not replaced with decorative materials, and only the concrete portion of the driveway within the right-of-way is replaced (program rules).

Yes: a Driveway Permit is needed for any modification of the driveway in the right-of-way, filed with a site plan and the Driveway Modification Application, and the old driveway cannot be removed before that permit is approved (Public Works FAQs).

After the paperwork is in, Public Works inspectors visit the site to check the culvert pipe, and the department tells the owner whether the pipe must be replaced; questions go to 772-871-5177 (Public Works FAQs). For a residential plot plan, the driveway culvert stakeout is not scheduled automatically. The FAQs say stakeouts are scheduled by calling 772-871-5177 or by fax to 772-871-5289, are completed in the order requested, and produce a culvert stakeout cut sheet that can be picked up in the department lobby or emailed on request. Residential inspections are booked by phone no later than 2:45 p.m. for the next business day.

Those fees are printed in the Public Works residential review and permitting guidelines, effective October 1, 2026 per Resolution 26-R78. New construction also needs a plastic swale liner: contractors pick it up at Building #4, 450 SW Thornhill Drive, between 8 and 11 a.m. or 12 and 2:30 p.m., with a stamped, approved plot plan and completed stakeout for each address (Swale Liner and Driveway Culverts page). Several communities skip Public Works review and go straight to the Building Department, including Bay St. Lucie, Charleston Oaks, Kitching Cove, Lake Lucie Estates, Osprey Ridge, Sawgrass Lakes and South River Shores (Public Works FAQs).

Usually it is not: Port St. Lucie asks residents to allow 14 days without further rain during the rainy season before requesting service (Swale Liner and Driveway Culverts FAQ).

The same Port St. Lucie page gives two rainy-season windows, May to November in its FAQ and June to November in a side note, and says most stormwater outside the rainy season recedes within three days (Swale Liner and Driveway Culverts page). It also explains the plastic liner at the bottom of many swales. The city began installing liners in the 1980s, the Council approved discontinuing the liner program in November 2022 in favor of reworking swales, and on Feb. 22, 2024 the Council approved bringing it back, so crews now install liners where swales were built without them. Earlier 1PSL requests about missing liners feed the prioritization of that swale work, and an interactive map shows the neighborhoods in the plan.

The work is paid for by the Port St. Lucie stormwater assessment on the property tax bill. The Stormwater page, as read October 22, 2026, describes a proposed $6 annual increase and lists the annual assessment at $189, a $6 increase from the $183 assessment it calls this year's, and says a portion covers oversight of the swale liner and driveway culvert programs, while one of the five projects it funds is accelerating swale and culvert replacements (Stormwater page). The swale page also repeats the city fertilizer rule: no nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizer on turf or landscape plants from June 1 to September 30 (swale page).

Last verified: October 22, 2026, by re-reading the city culvert assistance program, the swale liner and stormwater pages, the Public Works FAQs and drainage page, and the residential fee schedule in the Public Works guidelines.