Seawall raising in Boca Raton

Who needs a seawall raised

Owners whose walls overtop at king tides, owners who have been cited, and owners planning a repair big enough to trigger the city's height rule.

• Water over the cap at high tide
• A city citation for overtopping
• A repair of $300 or more per linear foot in Miami Beach
• Plans to sell, rebuild or add a dock

A height band, not just a minimum

Boca Raton's Engineering Design Standards Manual sets any new or replaced seawall or dock between 4.0 ft and 6.0 ft NAVD88. The maximum is unusual among the cities we work in: a wall or dock cannot simply be built as high as the owner likes.

A raise is designed to that number, measured in the right datum, and checked by survey before the cap pour.[1]

A 25% flood insurance discount

Boca Raton says its floodplain management currently qualifies residents for a 25% discount on flood insurance premiums, and the City recommends flood cover whether or not a home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area. New flood policies usually take 30 days to start, so owners buy cover before hurricane season, not during a storm watch.

Raising the wall stops tidal overtopping, but the home behind it still relies on its own flood protection.[2]

Designed for 12 to 18 more inches

The same manual asks for seawalls designed to take an added 12 to 18 in of height later without alteration. That sizes the piles, panels and tiebacks today for a raise the owner may only pay for in ten or twenty years.

If a citation or a large repair is coming, raising the wall once is usually cheaper than repairing it twice.[1]

A survey before the cap is poured

Boca Raton will not let a seawall cap be poured until a ZON location survey is approved, and after the work an engineer reports the finished cap elevation with photos. Docks and lifts finish with a Final Marine Structure Survey, so the elevation band is checked in the field, not just on paper.

We build that permit path into the schedule from the first site visit.[3]

What makes Boca Raton different

Plan review needs a current-conditions survey showing the seawall wet face or bulkhead line, the property line and piles, section details with the finished cap elevation, and a proposed site plan. Inspections are staged: a location survey before the cap is poured and before the structural cap and piling inspections, a final engineer report on cap elevation with photos, and a final marine structure survey for docks and lifts.[3]

Agencies beyond the City

Palm Beach County's marine structure checklist for unincorporated areas lists the outside approvals agencies expect to see: FDEP, the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) and the Army Corps, as applicable. That checklist is dated 2005, so we confirm current requirements for each job. The federal seagrass range used in dock design covers Palm Beach County waters.[4][5]

Permits in Boca Raton

• City of Boca Raton Development Services: Marine structure permits under City Code Chapter 22, with staged survey and engineer inspections.
• Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND): May be involved for work along the Intracoastal Waterway.
• Florida DEP or South Florida Water Management District: State permit or exemption for docks, walls and lifts on Lake Boca Raton and the Intracoastal Waterway.
• US Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District: Federal authorisation along the Intracoastal, which the Palm Beach County checklist expects to see with the building permit.

Seawall height rules by city

Each city sets its own standard, and they do not all use the same vertical datum (NAVD 88 or the older NGVD 1929), so the engineer's survey must state the wall height in the same datum as your city's rule.

Miami Beach: 5.7 ft NAVD for new walls and substantial repairs, or 4 ft NAVD designed to reach 5.7 ft. Coral Gables: a minimum of 6 ft NGVD 1929, structurally able to support 7.5 ft. Fort Lauderdale: a minimum of 5 ft NAVD88, and walls permitted before 1 January 2035 may be built at 4 ft if designed to reach 5 ft by 1 January 2050. Boca Raton: new or replaced walls between 4.0 and 6.0 ft NAVD88, designed to take another 12 to 18 inches.

City of Miami: a 2020 proposal set 6 ft NAVD 88 east of US-1. We have not confirmed it was adopted, so we check with the City for each job.[6][10][12][1][9]

Help with the cost

Miami Beach's Private Property Adaptation program accepts seawall applications on a rolling basis and reimburses 50% of costs up to $20,000, including the $2,500 assessment value; qualifying low to moderate income households need no match up to $17,500. Homes built at least 1 ft above base flood elevation are not eligible. Coral Gables waives a fee for existing homes raising seawalls for sea level rise.[7][11]

Frequently asked questions