Jupiter Florida Real Estate Broker

I get this question quite often from Buyers looking at foreclosure properties or fix er uppers. How bad can the condition of the property be and I can still get a loan on it?

First, are you planning on using a ‘conforming’ loan product? Most likely the answer is yes as these account for over 80% of loans originated. If so there’s a rather loose definition used. The property must be in “average” condition. Old and dated is OK, a little rot around the garage door is no problem. BUT if the place is full of mold or has an active roof leak then forget it. If you are using an FHA loan product then they actually do a basic inspection for things like a working stove and heat.

So this question gets asked all the time. How much fill can I bring onto a lot in Jupiter Farms?

This is the PBC ordinance governing this question for…   https://discover.pbcgov.org/publicsafety/dem/Publications/Flood-Damage-Ordinance-Article-18.pdf

PBC has put together a question and answer page for this topic. Note that one may place up to 20 Cubic Yards of “clean fill” per 24 months as a maintenance exception BUT this does NOT mean that one can slowly fill in that pond as it “shall not include new lot improvements or new development activity. All other filling operations, including pond filling shall require a site development permit prior to placement of fill”.

As of the 2017 revision of the FEMA FIRM maps all of Jupiter Farms is now is a Flood Zone X. Flood Zone X is NOT in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) and thus there is no Base Flood Elevation (BFE) that one would be required that the first floor be at least 1′ above.

For new construction, the first living area floor of the house must be at least the GREATER of 1′ above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), or 1.5′ above the Lowest Adjacent Road Crown (LARC). At present, in Jupiter Farms, only the LARC +1.5′ requirement is applicable.

And the MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF FILL THAT CAN BE ADDED to the site (brought into it) other than that required to raise the slab on grade or allow for things like an ADA compliant ramp or a berm for a septic system:   “On all new construction, earth fill brought onto the site of construction from another site shall be minimized to maximize existing floodwater storage capacity. Maximum volume of imported fill shall be limited to that necessary to raise an earth pad to elevate the slab-on-grade, not more than six inches above minimum floor elevation set in this Article, with side slopes of the pad of 1:5 to 1:3 starting ten feet from the slab edges.”

So, lets say a property in on a street where the Lowest Adjacent Road Crown (LARC) is 3.8′ NAVD.  The slab of the first floor must be at least 3.8′ + 1.5′ = 5.3′.  So the first floor slab must be AT LEAST 5.3′ above the NAVD datum. 

And the fill brought into the site can be NOT MORE THAN 5.3’+0.5′ = 5.8′ NAVD and this level of fill can only extend 10′ from the edge of the slab.

One other big exception to this is if the property has on-site septic then this must be raised above the ground water level and may control elevation of the house as well as the fill required to cover the septic system.

This is now in the renting period as Emara. According to Palm Beach County they have 63 workforce housing units available.

If you drive up Rt 1 north of PGA Blvd you probably noticed the fence is finally up around the old shopping center that will soon be demolished. The Lenox North Beach Apartments will be built by Oden Hughes for the owner, Fairway Investments, and will have 222 rental units with a club house and a parking garage at 12045 and 12089 U.S. Highway 1 just north of PGA Blvd near Juno Beach.

This information was put together for homes in unincorporated Palm Beach County. If the first 2 digits of your parcel ID (look in PAPA) are NOT 00 then you are in area that IS incorporated into a municipality and the rules of that city or town would apply.

The short answer is that in ANY residential (RE, RM, RS, RT or AR) district the Unified Land development Code Chapter 6 Article 18 allows for one to store 3 pieces of equipment on a property, ASIDE from registered cars & trucks. Of these 3 only 1 may be an RV, and all must owned by the occupant AND behind a 6′ opaque barrier. One car MAY be inoperable but it too must be behind the 6′ opaque barrier. The other equipement must be registered and insured.

This is the case for places like Palm Beach Country Estates and Jupiter Farms where the zoning is AR, or Agricultural Residential as well as places like Paradise Port where the zoning is RS or Residential Single Family.

In the unincorporated residential zoned areas of Palm Beach County (according to the rules anyway) boats, trailers campers and other such vehicles can NOT be stored between the street and the housing structure. They may be stored behind the front setback of the residence, in the side or rear yard areas, provided they are screened from surrounding property and streets with an opaque wall, fence or hedge a minimum of six feet in height (ULDC Article 6). One commercial vehicle may be parked on residential property provided it does not exceed the following requirements: vehicle is registered and licensed; used by a resident of the premises; gross weight, including load, does not exceed 12,500 pounds; height does not exceed 9 feet, including any load, bed or box; and total vehicle length does not exceed 26 feet (ULDC Article 6).

Recreational Vehicle = For the purposes of Art. 6, Parking, a truck, bus, trailer, pickup camper, pop-up camper, fifth wheel or other vehicle with or without motor power which has been converted or equipped with living or sleeping quarters and is designed and constructed to travel on public thoroughfares without a Special Permit in accordance with the provisions of F.S. § 316.550 of the Vehicle Code of the State of Florida. [Ord. 2019-005]

Sports Vehicle = for the purposes of Art. 6, Parking, any wheeled or tracked motorized vehicle designed or adapted to travel on public thoroughfares, public waterways, on unpaved thoroughfares, etc. without a Special Permit in accordance with the provisions of F.S. § 316.550 of the Vehicle Code of the State of Florida. [Ord. 2019-005]

Exemptions Stated in the code….

The following exemptions shall apply to parcels in residential districts, unless the parcel is vacant. [Ord. 2007-013]

1)   Commercial Vehicle

One commercial vehicle of not over one ton rated capacity may be parked per dwelling unit, providing all of the following conditions are met: vehicle is registered or licensed; used by a resident of the premises; gross vehicle weight rating (gvwr) does not exceed 12,500 pounds; height does not exceed nine feet, including any load, bed, or box; and total vehicle length does not exceed 26 feet. [Ord. 2005-041]

2)   Construction Vehicles

The general prohibitions above shall not apply to the temporary parking of construction vehicles or equipment engaged in work on private land in residential districts where construction is underway, for which a current and valid building permit has been issued by the Building Director and the building permit is displayed on the premises. [Ord. 2007-013]

3)   Delivery and Service Vehicles

The general prohibitions above shall not apply to routine deliveries by tradesmen, or the use of trucks in making service calls, provided that time in excess of one hour is due to business deliveries or servicing. [Ord. 2007-013]

4)   Emergency Repairs

The general prohibitions above shall not apply to a situation where a motor vehicle becomes disabled and, as a result of such emergency, is required to be parked in a residential district longer than two hours. Any prohibited motor vehicle shall be removed from the residential district within 24 hours, regardless of the nature of the emergency.

5)   Outdoor Storage

A maximum of one recreational vehicle and any two of the following, or a maximum of three of any of the following, may be parked outdoors on a residential parcel with a residential unit:

sports vehicle or marine vessel with accompanying trailers, and trailers may be parked outdoors in a residential district provided that the vehicles are: [Ord. 2007-013] [Ord. 2019-005]

a)   owned and used by a resident of the premises;

b)   not parked in a required front setback or other area between the structure and the street, or on street except for the purpose of loading or unloading during a period not to exceed two hours in any 24 hour period; [Ord. 2007-013]

c)   located in the side or rear yard and are screened from surrounding property and streets with an opaque wall, fence or hedge a minimum of six feet in height;

d)   not used for living, sleeping or housekeeping purposes; and

e)    operative and currently registered or licensed, as required by state or federal law.

f)    vehicles or marine vessels on navigable waterways are exempt; and [Ord. 2007-013] [Ord. 2019-005]

g)   one vehicle which does not meet the requirements above may be approved through ZAR process upon demonstration that: [Ord. 2018-002]

(1)  The property owner, family member or legal tenant has a physical disability which requires a vehicle which cannot meet these requirements.

6)   Indoor Storage

Vehicles, marine vessels and related trailers used for non-commercial purposes, whether licensed and operational or not, located in a fully enclosed garage or permitted roofed structure. [Ord. 2007-013] [Ord. 2019-005]

7)   Unregistered or Unlicensed Vehicles

In addition to the indoor storage exception above, one vehicle which is unregistered or unlicensed may be kept on site provided the vehicle is completely screened from view from adjacent roads and lots. [Ord. 2007-013]

So, 1 RV plus 2 boats, or 3 boats, and all meet the other requirements as far as ownership, operative and registered and they must be behind a 6′ high wall, hedge or fence.

As usual, I was doing one post and thinking along the way and I realized it was getting a bit long winded. I need a new post on the land history of the Intracoastal from Jupiter to North Palm Beach.

In THIS POST I go through how to tell if a waterfront property has riparian rights. And then I took a tangent onto the fact that the intracoastal waterway is an easement and in looking at the Florida Board of Trustees Land Document System (BTLDS) Map I noted that the deed for this 500′ wide easement was FROM the state of Florida to the Federal Government on 06/08/1942. This got me thinking. Most of this land was land owned by the state as it was navigable when the state was created but some of it was not. And since you can’t give away what you don’t own, no matter who your are, then how did this happen?

OK, in making any waterway from here to there one will first survey a route to determine the path of least resistance. The cheapest way to get from here to there. Thus, most of what is now the ICW is over land that was historically “navigable” or at least low and/or wet, even if not “navigable.” Makes sense right? In some places they needed to connect two bodies of water through land that was NOT historically “navigable” (FS 253.141) or it meandered like a river or a creek and needed to be straighten out. But who owned this land before it was below the water we now know as the perfectly straight ICW?

I found the answer in my search at this University of Florida web page. The answer lies in something called the Florida Coast Line Canal & Transportation Company.

In 1881, a group of St. Augustine residents led by a Dr. John D. Westcott incorporated the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company and the Florida legislature authorized that firm to dredge a series of canals to create an inland waterway along the length of the Florida Atlantic coast. As an incentive, the state granted 3,840 acres of land for every mile of canal constructed (WOW!) and gave the company the right to collect tolls on the waterways. Yes, they would literally pull a chain across the canal. The State had millions of acres of public lands (be it dry or over flowed lands and swamp), which they frequently deeded to rail, navigation and other companies to spur the development of the state. GO SOUTH YOUNG MAN! By about 1891-1892, the company had reached Jupiter and began to work southward to connect the Loxahatchee River tributaries and Lake Worth. In 1892, Henry Flagler invested in the firm and a year later became president for a brief time. In total, over a 30-year period between 1882 and 1912, the company constructed 268 miles of canals linking Jacksonville to Miami and earning more than a million acres of state land in the process. The dredged canals and connected waterways ultimately became known as the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Florida.

Looking at the map noted below, the way I read it by looking at the quadrants, the state owned the land where the intracoastal is now located between Indiantown road south all the way down to Old Port Cove in North Palm Beach whether it was navigable or not. The state gave all this land (everything in rust color on the map) to the company as the payment for the dredging of the canal that now runs through this area. True to form for Florida though, this company had financial troubles and in 1923 their interests were foreclosed upon and sold to a new entity, the Florida Canal & Transportation Company to satisfy the debt holders. (Interesting, the officers of this new Corp included local names like Harry Kelsey (Lake Park and North Palm Beach) and Bert Winters (as in Bert Winters Park). A few years later a section of the Rivers & Harbors Act basically told the states that hey if you, the state, acquire a route from New England to Key West that we can make 75′ wide and 8′ deep and then give it to us, the Federal Government, then we will maintain it in perpetuity and not charge any tolls. Good deal! The State of Florida was all aboard on this idea and in 1927 the Florida Inland Navigation District was created and was authorized to BUY the Florida Canal & Transportation Company for a price not to exceed 800k which they did for 776k. FIND then went about 10 years of planning for things like dredge spoils areas, buying those tracts if necessary. And, in 1942 the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund deeded the US Federal Government an EASEMENT, 500′ wide (it varies in some places), “to enter upon, excavate and remove soil” where the ICW now is. The US Government agreed to construct and maintain the Intracoastal Waterway and FIND agreed to furnish to it, free of cost, the necessary rights-of-way (done) and areas for the deposit of dredged material in connection with the subsequent maintenance of the canal. CLICK HERE to see the actual deed conveying this easement to the federal government. And there we have it. The ICW is now the responsibility of the federal government, supposedly. Interesting thing here as well is in those dredge spoil areas. It seems the feds did not need all of them and so some were sold or given away by FIND. One such example is Lakeside Park in North Palm Beach where 90% of the park was once a dredge spoil area for the ICW. Another such area became Bert Winters Park here in Juno.