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Miami Beach seawall requirements and local evidence

Miami Beach sets the highest published municipal seawall elevation among the cities documented on this site: 5.7 feet NAVD for new walls. It also makes overtopping itself a trigger, which means the condition that prompts action is observable from your own back yard rather than requiring an engineer to declare it.

Reviewing authority

City of Miami Beach, under its Seawall Ordinance as updated July 23, 2025

Miami-Dade County. Depending on scope and waterway, state and federal review may also apply.

Named waters

  • Biscayne Bay
  • Indian Creek
  • Collins Canal
  • residential island canals

What is documented for Miami Beach

Everything below carries a classification label and a source. Where a source conflicts with another, both are shown.

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Miami Beach requires a higher seawall elevation than the Broward County standard — 5.7 feet NAVD.

  • All new seawalls must be constructed to an elevation of 5.7 feet NAVD, or 4 feet NAVD if designed to support a future elevation of 5.7 feet NAVD.
  • In January 2021 the City strengthened a 2016 policy into an ordinance requiring new seawalls at 5.7 feet NAVD and requiring failing seawalls to be rebuilt to that minimum.
  • The City updated the Seawall Ordinance on July 23, 2025, changing definitions and construction standards for new and existing seawalls and other tidal flood barriers.

Read carefully: Crossing a municipal line in South Florida can change the required elevation. Miami Beach at 5.7 feet NAVD and Broward at 5.0 feet NAVD88 are different numbers on different data.

Source
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In Miami Beach most of the seawall network is privately owned, and overtopping itself triggers obligations.

  • 91% of seawalls in the city are on private property.
  • The ordinance establishes overtopping as a trigger for seawall elevation and for maintenance requirements.
  • Seawalls must be maintained in good repair to prevent soil eroding into the bay or waterway and to prevent tidal water flowing through the seawall onto adjacent private property.
  • The City references a matching grant for private seawall upgrades and PACE financing as potential funding routes for owners.

Read carefully: Grant and PACE availability changes. Confirm current terms with the City before assuming either is open to you.

Source

Why Miami Beach is published here

We publish a city only where at least two city-specific facts could be sourced. For Miami Beach these are:

  • City ordinance requiring new seawalls at 5.7 feet NAVD, or 4 feet NAVD if designed for future 5.7 (City of Miami Beach)
  • City-published finding that 91% of seawalls are on private property
  • Seawall Ordinance update dated July 23, 2025 establishing overtopping as a trigger

Ten of the eighteen cities we examined did not meet that bar and were not published. The full list and reasons are here.

What this does not tell you

Nothing on this page establishes what your specific wall needs. Requirements turn on your waterway, your scope of work and the current state of local code — all of which change. Use this to know what questions to ask and what a contractor should be able to cite, then confirm with the authority that administers it.

Next steps from Miami Beach