Gulfport, FL Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Sec. 7-1 adopts the Florida Building Code, as amended by the Florida Building Commission, and the National Fire Codes and Life Safety Code NFPA 101, as the city's building codes, with the last update reflected in Ordinance No. 2018-09 (2018). Sec. 7-2 then requires a building permit for alteration of a building or structure as set out in those adopted codes, with permit fees collected under Chapter 25 of the Code. A certificate of occupancy from the building official is required before a new building is occupied or an existing building's occupancy changes, and for multifamily and commercial structures a fire inspection must precede the structural and code inspection before that certificate issues.

Sec. 1 clarifies that permit issuance, inspections and certificates of occupancy verify only compliance with the codes in force on the inspection date and do not constitute an approval of the adequacy of any architectural or engineering design, a policy the city council has adopted as legislative policy limited by available inspection funding. Sec. 2 further amends the Florida Building Code's Residential Section R322 and Building Section 1612 locally, restricting enclosed areas below the design flood elevation to parking, building access or storage, unpartitioned except for stairwells, ramps and elevators, per Ordinance No.

2018-09 and Ordinance No. 2023-04. Sec. 7-4 requires each permit application to include a surveyor-sealed, scaled survey showing the lot's actual dimensions and the building's size, shape and location.