8 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Bay County, Florida.
Verified from official government sources
Bay County's nuisance code sets no numeric grass-height number. It treats excessive overgrowth on developed or improved property as a nuisance in the unincorporated area. Panama City, Panama City Beach, and Lynn Haven set their own limits.
Bay County, FL, Code of Ordinances § 17-1(5)
Any excessive accumulation of overgrowth upon any developed or improved property.
Homeowners can trim their own yard trees in unincorporated Bay County. The tree code covers only large protected oaks in the service areas, and single-family homes are exempt. Pines and palms are unregulated. Trim before June 1 for hurricane season.
In unincorporated Bay County, a county permit is required only to remove a protected oak (30-inch trunk) in the Urban or Suburban Service Area. Pines are unprotected at any size, and single-family homes are largely exempt.
Bay County, FL, Land Development Regulations § 1911
No property owner, builder, contractor, landscaper, business, firm or other legal person shall remove, destroy, or damage a protected Historic, Specimen, Champion or Heritage tree located in the Urban or Suburban Service Area without first obtaining a permit from the Planning and Zoning Division.
Bay County treats excessive overgrowth on developed or improved property as a nuisance, with no fixed height number. Invasive plants like cogongrass, Chinese tallow, and Brazilian pepper are a regional concern; the state, not the county, sets the regulated list.
Bay County lies in the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the only Florida district with no mandatory two-day-per-week watering schedule. Watering is largely unrestricted outside declared shortages. State law protects your right to install Florida-Friendly Landscaping.
Fla. Stat. § 373.185(3)(b)
A deed restriction or covenant may not prohibit or be enforced so as to prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping on his or her land.
Rainwater harvesting is legal and unrestricted for homes in Bay County. Rain barrels and small cisterns need no county permit for garden and lawn irrigation. Florida encourages collection, and UF/IFAS Extension promotes rain barrels.
Bay County encourages Florida-Friendly, native, drought-tolerant landscaping. State law protects your right to replace turf with native plantings, and an HOA cannot prohibit it. Native replanting is rebuilding canopy lost to Hurricane Michael.
Fla. Stat. § 373.185(3)(b)
A deed restriction or covenant may not prohibit or be enforced so as to prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping on his or her land.
Bay County does not prohibit artificial turf, and no county permit is required to replace a residential lawn with synthetic grass unless grading changes are involved. Proper drainage matters in sandy soils. HOAs may still limit or ban turf.
1 cities in Bay County have their own landscaping rules rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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