Broward County, FL Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Section 39-282 measures plot coverage as the combined footprint of every building and roofed structure on a lot, and ties the ceiling directly to the residential district: twenty percent in RS-2, forty percent in RS-3 through RS-6, fifty percent in RD-4 through RD-6 and RM-5/RM-6, and sixty-five percent for one-family detached homes, but only forty percent for every other use type, in RD-7 through RD-10 and RM-7 through RM-25. That figure is distinct from Broward's separate impervious-surface cap in Section 39-94, which limits the combined area of buildings and paving, driveways, and other non-porous surfaces to sixty percent of a residential lot, seventy percent commercial, and seventy-five percent industrial; a homeowner can be under the Section 39-282 building-footprint cap and still be over the Section 39-94 impervious limit once a driveway and pool deck are added.

The Housing and Urban Planning Division Director can grant relief from the impervious cap, but only up to eighty-five percent industrial, eighty percent commercial, or seventy percent residential, and only after the applicant shows mitigating design improvements such as pervious paving, larger native plantings, or curvilinear berms that offset the added hardscape. Plot coverage itself is one of the seven categories the hearing officer may vary under Section 39-39(a)(6), using the same six-part variance test in Section 39-40 that applies to yards and height: unique circumstances not shared by neighboring properties, a hardship that isn't self-created, and a variance no larger than the minimum needed for reasonable use of the property.