Flagler County, FL Accessory Structures: ADU Impact Fees (2026)

Flagler County Code Sec. 16-79 lists a package of incentives available to any applicant developing housing that meets the state definition of affordable housing (Fla. 0004) on a residential, commercial, industrial, or planned affordable-development parcel in unincorporated Flagler County. Two of the eight listed incentives bear directly on accessory dwelling units: a waiver of county impact fees, and separately, allowance of affordable accessory dwelling units. A county permit fee waiver, a density-restriction waiver, reduced parking and setback requirements, flexible lot configuration including waiver of minimum lot size, and expedited permit processing round out the list.

None of this applies automatically to a homeowner simply building a backyard ADU; the exemption is tied to the affordability restriction, not the structure type alone. To use these incentives, an applicant files a building permit application with an affidavit of intent to comply, and before receiving a certificate of occupancy must record a restrictive covenant in the Official Records of Flagler County. That covenant locks the unit to very-low, low, or moderate-income occupants for ten years if sold and twenty years if rented, with rents capped at the limits set annually by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

The Board of County Commissioners can shorten those terms only on a showing of substantial financial hardship to the owner. This governs unincorporated Flagler County territory only; it has no application inside Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach, Marineland, or Bunnell, each of which administers its own building and impact-fee code.