Fort Lauderdale and its New Seawall Regulations

Fort Lauderdale is known as “The Venice of America”. The city boasts approximately 260 miles of inland waterways and canals. The waterways are an integral part of Fort Lauderdale’s real estate landscape. If you are considering purchasing or selling waterfront property in Fort Lauderdale here are a few important things you should know.

Waterfront real estate is highly desirable and holds the most expensive property values. Owning waterfront real estate comes with a responsibility to protect the property from water intrusion and land erosion. The most effective way to protect waterfront property is with a seawall.

More and more homeowners and buyers are concerned about the effects of rising waters due to global warming and the annually occurring King Tides. The City of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County are on the forefront of implementing protective measures to ensure that the city continues to thrive and adapt as the waters rise. This adaptation includes new Seawall Regulations.

The City of Fort Lauderdale owns approximately 6 miles along the inland canals. This means that private property owners will be responsible for adapting the seawall protections of approximately 254 miles of waterfront property in Fort Lauderdale.

The new Seawall Guidelines include minimum height regulations. The current plan is for all Seawall Heights to be 4 feet above sea level by the year 2035. This requirement is already in place if a permitted seawall repair is greater than 50% of the current seawall. Seawalls in Fort Lauderdale also need to support an increase of height to 5 feet by 2050.