Florida Aquatic Preserve Permits: Chapter 18-20 and Biscayne Bay (Chapter 18-18)
- Endless Life Design
- 2 hours ago
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Building a dock, seawall, or shoreline structure in Biscayne Bay or another designated preserve means clearing a higher bar than ordinary submerged-lands work. Biscayne Bay has been held in public trust and protected for generations, and the rules treat it accordingly. Endless Life Design coordinates the heightened review these waters require before a piling is ever driven.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What an Aquatic Preserve Is
The Rules: Chapter 18-20 and Biscayne Bay's 18-18
How Activities Are Authorized
Heightened Standards and Resource Protection Areas
The Public-Interest Test and Cumulative Impacts
How It Layers on Sovereign Submerged Lands
County and Municipality Inspection Comments for Permit Approval
Related Resources
Why Choose Endless Life Design
WHAT AN AQUATIC PRESERVE IS
An aquatic preserve is an area of sovereignty submerged land of exceptional biological, aesthetic, and scientific value, set aside under the Florida Aquatic Preserve Act, Chapter 258, Part II, Florida Statutes, to be maintained in essentially natural condition for future generations. South Florida's Biscayne Bay is among the most significant of these waters.
THE RULES: CHAPTER 18-20 AND BISCAYNE BAY'S 18-18
Chapter 18-20, F.A.C., adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, sets the management policies, standards, and proprietary criteria for activities in aquatic preserves statewide — with one major exception. Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve is governed by its own Chapter 18-18, F.A.C. Both are cumulative with the sovereignty submerged lands rules in Chapter 18-21.
HOW ACTIVITIES ARE AUTHORIZED
An activity in a preserve that uses sovereign submerged lands and also requires an Environmental Resource Permit is submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection on the Joint Application that bundles the ERP, the authorization to use state-owned submerged lands, and the federal dredge-and-fill review. The proprietary authorization to use the preserve comes from the Board of Trustees.
HEIGHTENED STANDARDS AND RESOURCE PROTECTION AREAS
Preserves are divided into Resource Protection Areas reflecting the value and sensitivity of the bottom. Docking facilities and access channels are prohibited in Resource Protection Areas 1 and 2 except as narrowly allowed by statute, and dredging in Resource Protection Area 3 is strongly discouraged. Further sale, lease, or transfer of sovereignty lands is restricted to uses in the public interest.
THE PUBLIC-INTEREST TEST AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS
Requests are evaluated case by case and weighed against a public-interest assessment and against the cumulative impact of similar activities within the preserve. The Board reserves the right to approve, approve with conditions or modifications, or deny, so the standard is meaningfully higher than for ordinary submerged-lands activities.
HOW IT LAYERS ON SOVEREIGN SUBMERGED LANDS
Aquatic-preserve review is supplemental to the ordinary sovereignty submerged lands authorization. A dock or seawall that might qualify for a standard consent of use in open water faces an additional and more demanding layer of review once it lies inside a preserve boundary.
COUNTY AND MUNICIPALITY INSPECTION COMMENTS FOR PERMIT APPROVAL
Common comments include:
Dock or access channel proposed within a Resource Protection Area 1 or 2.
Activity in Biscayne Bay analyzed under Chapter 18-20 rather than its governing Chapter 18-18.
No public-interest demonstration for the proposed use.
Cumulative impacts on the preserve not addressed.
Proprietary authorization from the Board of Trustees missing from the file.
RELATED RESOURCES
WHY CHOOSE ENDLESS LIFE DESIGN
Endless Life Design is a licensed Florida general contractor serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. From Biscayne Bay's protected shoreline to inland canal frontage, we coordinate the environmental, proprietary, and building approvals that waterfront construction in South Florida demands, and we manage them as one accountable process.
Endless Life Design — Licensed Florida General Contractor. Visit endlesslifedesign.com, call (305) 680-3283, or email endlesslifedesign@endlesslifedesign.com.
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