WallDockDeck
Dania Beach · Broward County

Do I need a permit to repair a seawall in Dania Beach?

Yes, plus county licensecity permit + county license

Yes. Dania Beach adopts the Florida Building Code in its entirety, and its seawall article covers new walls, substantial repairs and attached structures such as docks. A substantial repair (more than half the shoreline) must meet the city's tidal flood barrier height, run the whole shoreline and carry limerock rip-rap at the face. Broward County also requires its own Environmental Resource License, often a general license for a repair in the same place.

Source: Dania Beach Code Secs. 8-1, 12-85, 12-86, 12-87 (Supp. 163); Broward County Code Ch. 27 Art. XI Secs. 27-333, 27-336 (Supp. 72); s. 403.813(1)(e), F.S. (2026); 33 CFR 322.3(a) · Verified 2026-10

The detail

CityThe Florida Building Code is adopted by reference in its entirety as the city's building code - Code Sec. 8-1. The article sets a barrier standard meant to hold back tides through 2070 under sea level rise, high tides and high-frequency storm surge - Sec. 12-84; it applies to new tidal flood barriers, substantial repair of shorelines and attached structures such as docks, but not to oceanfront beaches or shorelines seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line - Sec. 12-85. Substantial repair = work along more than 50% of the property's shoreline, or work on an attached structure such as a dock costing more than 50% of a tidal flood barrier - Sec. 12-86; such walls need 5.0 ft NAVD88 (4.0 ft for applications before 1 Jan 2035 if designed to reach 5.0 ft by 2050), must run along the entire shoreline and must have natural limerock rip-rap or other approved habitat enhancement at the face - Sec. 12-87(a), (f), (g). After a disrepair citation, an owner whose fix is a substantial repair must design, obtain permits, build and pass final inspection within 365 days - Sec. 12-87(b) (Ord. 2021-027). Sale contracts for tidally influenced property signed after 31 Dec 2020 must carry a capitalized, bold, 14-point disclosure of these elevation duties - Sec. 12-88
Broward CountyConstruction in regulated aquatic resources needs a county Environmental Resource License (ERL) - Broward County Code Sec. 27-333(a)(1). Repairing an existing functional seawall no more than 1 ft waterward of its authorized location, or a new wall within 1 ft of the old wet face with the old wall left in place, qualifies for a general license (Sec. 27-336(a)(1)b.), as do refacing, crack filling, seepage holes and other minor repairs (n.) and raising the cap in the same footprint (o.); the code says a general license is issued within 10 days of a complete application - Sec. 27-336(a)(1)
StateRestoring a seawall at its previous location, upland of it, or within 18 inches waterward is exempt from a state environmental resource permit; the exemption does not replace permission to use state-owned submerged land or county and city requirements, and does not cover chapter 161 coastal permits - s. 403.813(1), (1)(e), F.S.
FederalA U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Department of the Army) authorization is required for structures or work in or affecting navigable waters, unless exempt or covered by a nationwide or regional general permit - 33 CFR 322.3(a) (Rivers and Harbors Act s. 10)

Your city's height sheet

The elevation your city requires, the datum it is measured in, and the section of code that says so. One page.

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The county rule behind this

What applies across Broward County, and where each city departs from it.

Broward CountySeawall requirements county-wide

The same question, nearby

The rule changes at the city line, not the county line.

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Twelve signs a seawall is failing

What to look for, where to look for it, and what it means when you find it. Walk your wall in twenty minutes.

A screening sheet for owners, not an engineering inspection.

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