How to check a dock permit in Palm Beach County Florida?
OK, I’ve found just the right waterfront house. I looked into it and I found out if the water frontage is Riparian or Littoral. Now how do I tell if the sea wall, rip rap (stone) and most importantly the dock/pier is properly permitted?
Let me preface my answer with this: Hire a Professional Engineer. It’s the only way to be sure.
Start with this. All sea walls, rip rap (stone) and docks MUST be permitted by the Florida DEP. So start by looking up the property, by address at this DEP Site, or browse a map HERE. Or, if it is a drainage canal the you must look at the South Florida Water Management portal, or equivalent. Print out all the information you can. Look at any plans and read through the FULL permit. Does the permit state that it is over sovereign submerged lands? Does it state that the waterway is environmentally sensitive? Does the approved plan ‘look’ like what there? Are boat lifts shown on the DEP permit plan? Are floating docks shown?
Go to the county (Palm Beach) AND the local municipality (say Jupiter) and review ALL the building permit files noting anything that is included like the dock, sea wall, boat lift(s) and electric thereto.
Look at the recorded plat and HOA restrictions for applicable verbiage. Are there any conflicts between what is there and what theses documents restrict the homeowner to do or not do? Did the Owner obtain the required approval from the association?
The DEP permit plan MUST be implemented via a local, county or municipality, building permit. For example, one could get a DEP permit that shows a ‘boat lift’ on the same plan as a dock and sea wall. The owner could then pull a permit for the dock and sea wall (without the lift), complete the work and get the permit closed. Then later go back and pull another local permit for the boat lift using the same DEP Permit as a basis for the local municipal permit. Be sure to note even things like outside dolphin or tie off pilings MUST be on the DEP permit. Everything should be as it shown on the DEP plan which again is the basis for a local permit. Just because something is shown on the DEP permit does not in and of itself make it OK. It must be included on the local permit as well. Look at the last survey and compare that to the plan submitted with the permit. Do they match? And yes, they must match perfectly so check the dimensions.
Now go onto PAPA or Google Earth and look at the old aerials of the property. When did the dock change? Is that when the local permit was dated? If not then it may not have been properly permitted as again, the DEP approved plan must be implemented with a local permit. And ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to make sure the local permit was properly closed out. If it was NOT then the dock improvements were NOT properly permitted and what was allowed back then may no longer be permissible.
What about electric? If there’s a lift, lights or shore power then there’s electric to the dock and this MUST also be permitted and is typically a sub permit to the dock and/or lift permit.
If the house in an HOA or some sort such as Admiral’s Cove of Jonathan’s Landing then the association will typically keep track of these things to make sure the work is done properly. But if the property is tucked back a canal or in an unincorporated pocket of the county like Paradise Port then there can be lot’s of work that get’s done the weekend.
Still have questions? Give me a call at the office at 561.626.8550.
