Seawalls in Miami and Fort Lauderdale

Broward County sets a countywide minimum tidal flood barrier elevation of 5.0 feet NAVD88, with a transition provision that runs to 2050.

• Tidal flood barriers shall have a minimum elevation of five (5) feet NAVD88.
• Applications for new or substantially repaired or substantially rehabilitated tidal flood barriers submitted prior to January 1, 2035 may be permitted a minimum elevation of four (4) feet NAVD88, if designed and constructed to accommodate a minimum elevation of five (5) feet NAVD88 by January 1, 2050.
• Adopted by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners on March 31, 2020, as Article XXV of Chapter 39 of the Broward County Code of Ordinances.
• The standard is written to address flood patterns and sea level rise projections through 2070.
• The standard does not apply to oceanfront beaches or shorelines seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line.

Read carefully: The 4-foot figure is a conditional transition allowance, not an alternative standard. It is only available where the barrier is designed and built to be raised to 5 feet by 2050.

Broward County defines when a repair is large enough to trigger the elevation standard.

• A "substantial" repair or rehabilitation has occurred when more than 50% of a property's shoreline structure is modified.
• It is also triggered when an attachment — a mooring, for example — valued at more than 50% of the cost of installing a tidal flood barrier on the property is installed.

Read carefully: The second trigger is the one owners miss. Adding a valuable attachment can pull an otherwise routine project into the elevation standard.

In Broward County, letting tidal water cross onto a neighbouring property or the public right of way is a citable offence, not merely a maintenance problem.

• Causing, suffering, or allowing the trespass of tidal waters onto adjacent property or public right-of-way is declared a public nuisance and a citable offence requiring abatement.
• Barriers below the 5 feet NAVD88 minimum are still required to be improved, designed and constructed so as to prevent tidal waters from impacting adjacent property or public right of way.

Widely republished summaries state that the Broward County standard "is 4.0 feet NAVD88". The adopted ordinance does not say that.

• Secondary write-ups frequently present 4.0 feet NAVD88 as the county standard and 5.0 feet as a stricter Fort Lauderdale choice.
• The adopted text sets 5.0 feet NAVD88 as the minimum, and permits 4.0 feet only for applications filed before January 1, 2035 and only where the barrier is designed and constructed to reach 5.0 feet by January 1, 2050.
• Both halves of the rule are real. Sources quoting one half without the other produce an apparent conflict that does not exist in the ordinance.

Read carefully: This entry exists to record a documented misreading in circulation, not to settle a genuine disagreement between authorities.

Broward County requires sellers of tidally influenced property to include a specific disclosure in the contract.

• The required disclosure reads: "This real estate is located in a tidally influenced area. The owner may be required by county or municipal ordinance to meet minimum tidal flood barrier elevation standards during construction or substantial repair or substantial rehabilitation of seawalls, banks, berms, and similar infrastructure or when required to abate nuisance flooding."

Read carefully: The disclosure language above is quoted from reporting that reproduces the ordinance text. We were not able to confirm the disclosure requirement's effective date against the adopted code, so no effective date is published here. See UNK-01.

Owners cited for a seawall in disrepair in Broward County face a defined clock.

• Reporting on the adopted ordinance states that a cited property owner must begin work within 60 days and complete it in 365 days.

Read carefully: Enforcement timelines are administered by the municipality, not the county. Confirm the clock with your city before relying on it.