Alachua County, FL Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)
Key Facts
- Applies only in
- Traditional Neighborhood / Transit Oriented Developments
- Covered uses
- restaurant, pharmacy, dry cleaner, car wash, service station, fuel sales, bank
- Trigger
- the use includes a drive-through lane
- Requirement
- nationally or locally recognized green building standard
- Reviewed by
- Development Review Committee (DRC)
- Key citation
- Sec. 404.68(c)(3), Alachua County ULDC
Summary
In Alachua County's Traditional Neighborhood and Transit Oriented Developments, a restaurant, pharmacy, dry cleaner, car wash, service station, fuel-sales business, or bank that adds a drive-through lane must design its building to meet a nationally or locally recognized green building standard, per Sec. 404.68(c) and matching provisions for each use type.
(c) Additional standards for traditional neighborhood and TODs. (1) Restaurants with a drive-through lane are only allowed in a multi-tenant building. (2) Drive-through lanes and drive aisles shall be located at the rear of buildings and shall be architecturally integrated with the building or screened from the street. (3) Building shall be designed to meet a nationally or locally recognized green building standard.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 63).
Full Breakdown
This is not a countywide green building code, it is a design condition attached to specific commercial uses with drive-through service inside a Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) or Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Sec. ' Identical language appears in the parallel TND/TOD standards for a pharmacy (Sec. 74), dry-cleaners (Sec. 5), car wash (Sec. 5), service station (Sec. 5), fuel sales (Sec. 80), and a bank or financial institution with a drive-through (Sec. 107). The Code does not name a specific certification program, it leaves 'nationally or locally recognized' open, so compliance is demonstrated to the Development Review Committee (DRC) as part of development plan review rather than through a fixed checklist. A drive-through use sited outside a TND or TOD is not reached by this clause at all.
Violations & Fines
Because this standard is a development-plan design condition, non-compliance is addressed through DRC plan review rather than a standalone citation: a plan that omits the green building showing is not approved. If a building is constructed without it in violation of an approved plan, it is enforceable under Alachua County Code § 10.08, which sets a default penalty of up to $500.00, up to 60 days in jail, or both, with each day a separate offense, alongside Code Enforcement Board action under Chapter 24.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Alachua County require green building certification for all new construction?
Which certification counts as a recognized green building standard?
Does this rule apply to a drive-through restaurant outside a TND or TOD?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Alachua County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Alachua County to another location·View the Florida building safety overview
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