Lee County, FL Ordinances (2026)

In unincorporated Lee County, each duplex or two-family attached unit needs its own driveway at least 20 feet wide and 20 feet long, built of concrete, asphalt or concrete pavers, and…

The county code sets no countywide overnight street-parking curfew, but you may not park a vehicle more than 24 continuous hours on public property to display it for sale, hire or…

In unincorporated Lee County an inoperative vehicle left on private property is a "nuisance accumulation" subject to immediate abatement. Penalties run to $250 a day, 60 days in jail…

Section 28-104 of the Lee County Code bars stopping, standing or parking on sidewalks, in intersections, on crosswalks and bike paths, on bridges and railroad tracks, and wherever…

Lee County does not limit how many RVs or boats you keep at your home. The rule that applies in residential zones bans commercial trucks, and a recreational vehicle is expressly…

You cannot park or store a tractor-trailer, a truck with two or more rear axles, or any truck over 15,000 pounds GVWR on residentially or agriculturally zoned Lee County land, or on…

Commercial and industrial sites in unincorporated Lee County must provide off-street loading areas sized and placed to code, keep required spaces clear of merchandise displays, and…

Gasparilla Island's residential parking zones run on a County decal system: A permits for residents, B placards for hotel guests, C decals for island employees, and D placards for…

The Lee County code contains no vacation-rental operating permit. What the county does impose is the tourist development tax: anyone renting living quarters for a term of six months or…

Unincorporated Lee County's code does not require a short-term rental to be your primary residence. The one owner-occupancy rule in the Land Development Code applies to bed and…

Most of unincorporated Lee County's code sets no cap on how many nights you may rent. Captiva Island is the exception: on RSC-2 lots, Section 33-1626 bars renting or leasing for…

Lee County does not ban leaf blowers. The Noise Control Ordinance exempts lawn care, domestic power tools, lawn mowers and tree maintenance between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Outside…

Lee County sets no fixed construction curfew. Power-driven construction equipment needs a muffler unless it stays under the Table 1 limit for the receiving land, and 24-hour equipment…

Lee County sets no separate decibel limit for motor vehicles. A car, truck or motorcycle is treated like any other sound source under Table 1 - 66 dBA by day and 55 dBA overnight on…

In unincorporated Lee County the residential sound limit drops from 66 dBA to 55 dBA between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., measured within the receiving property. Incorporated cities set…

Two rules cover a barking dog in unincorporated Lee County. The animal chapter makes it unlawful for any animal to bark, howl, whine or screech in a way that disturbs a reasonable…

Lee County caps sound at the receiving property: 66 dBA day and 55 dBA night in residential areas, 72 and 65 in commercial areas, and 75 dBA at all times in industrial areas. Matching…

The Lee County Noise Control Ordinance names amplified bass in its definition of noise. In residential areas the limit is 66 dBA in the daytime and 55 dBA between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m…

Lee County's noise ordinance does not apply to noise created by the operation of all Lee County airports. The Land Development Code manages airport noise through land use instead…

Lee County's animal chapter sets no fixed number of dogs or cats per home. Instead it makes it unlawful to keep animals that are dangerous by number or type, treats keeping animals for…

Any cat four months or older in Lee County must be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian and licensed, with the tag on a collar or harness unless the cat carries a…

Where you may keep horses, goats, sheep, swine and poultry in unincorporated Lee County is set by Land Development Code Chapter 34, Article VII, Division 6. It fixes minimum lot sizes…

Lee County's Land Development Code, not just the state, controls exotic pets. Keeping, raising or breeding Class I or Class II animals, American alligators or venomous reptiles is…

Lee County requires animals to stay under direct control - a fence, or a leash no longer than eight feet, cord or chain strong enough to restrain them. Letting a dog roam onto streets…

Lee County’s animal chapter names no banned breed. It regulates individual animals by behavior: the animal services director declares an animal dangerous, which triggers confinement…

Lee County zoning locks veterinary clinics, animal hospitals and boarding kennels into a tight footprint under LDC § 34-1322: the building must be fully air-conditioned, soundproofed…

Lee County will not release an unclaimed dog or cat from a public or private shelter, humane group or animal control facility for adoption unless it has been sterilized. Sec. 4-26 lets…

Unincorporated Lee County protects southern bald eagle nests with a mandatory 660-foot development buffer. Any building permit, development order, rezoning or clearing notice within…

Lee County bans giving food, tobacco, alcohol or any noxious substance to wild animals anywhere in a County park, and also bans petting them, under Sec. 20-23(d). The same rule bars…

Before Lee County Animal Services releases any dog, cat or ferret from its shelter, Sec. 4-44(h) requires the animal be microchipped and the chip registered to the pet owner. A…

In unincorporated Lee County, the franchised hauler collects garbage, trash, recyclables and horticulture waste once per week each, at the curb within six feet of the roadway. Bulky…

Every business and multifamily property in unincorporated Lee County must run an on-site recycling program. Businesses recycle at least one material with collection at least every two…

If you own a home in unincorporated Lee County you must supply approved receptacles big enough for all your household waste. A can may hold up to 40 gallons or 50 pounds and needs a…

Curbside service in the county's mandatory collection unit includes bulky waste with your regular garbage, plus a separate scheduled pickup of bulky waste, white goods and E-waste on…

Throwing or dumping litter, rubbish or refuse on any street, alley, canal, beach, waterway or other public place in unincorporated Lee County is a civil infraction. Fines escalate…

Unincorporated Lee County businesses must have solid waste collected at least once a week, twice a week for food-service establishments, under Code of Ordinances § 25-1938(2). New…

Lee County's water conservation article lets you water any plant material with rain barrels, cisterns or other rain-harvesting devices without regard to the watering days and times it…

Unincorporated Lee County bans landscape irrigation between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. every day and assigns watering days by address, tightening to one day a week from February through…

A tree protected by LDC Article V may be removed only after a permit is secured from the administrator. Protected means listed in Appendix E; any other species may come down without a…

Owners, agents, custodians, lessees and occupants in unincorporated Lee County must cut and keep grasses and weeds to a height not exceeding 12 inches, including on the easements…

Vegetation the Code requires may only be pruned to promote healthy, uniform, natural growth, following ANSI A300 Part 1 and ISA best practices. Severely pruned trees must be replaced…

Lee County's Land Development Code sets a hard native-species share for code-required landscaping: at least 75 percent of trees and 50 percent of shrubs must be native Florida species…

Lee County's fence rules govern where a fence goes rather than who pays for it. No fence may sit in a street right-of-way or easement, or within five feet of the mean high-water line…

A retaining wall over 25 inches high needs a building permit under the Land Development Code. On the water, a retaining wall must sit at least five feet back from the mean high water…

Land Development Code section 34-1742(a) requires a building permit for any fence or wall over 25 inches in height, except fences for bona fide agricultural uses or for conservation by…

Lee County requires fences and walls built of conventional and traditional materials: concrete block, brick, wood, decorative aluminum, iron or steel, chain link or purpose-made…

In unincorporated Lee County a fence between the street and the required setback line is capped at three feet, or four if open mesh, while a fence along a side or rear lot line may…

Lee County's code sets no permit or standard for a backyard smoker. Its only outdoor-fire rule is the drought emergency burn ban, and that ban names campfires, bonfires and trash…

Lee County's code does not set a separate rule for backyard gas or charcoal grills. What it does regulate is fire during a declared drought emergency, fires in county parks, and…

Lee County's zoning code treats a family day care home differently from a day care center. Family day care homes are exempt from the special-exception requirement under F.S. 125.0109…

Lee County allows home occupations by right in every district that permits dwellings. The business must stay clearly incidental to living there, no more than two employees or…

Lee County's code does not set cottage food standards, but it does govern the business side: home occupations are allowed by right in every district permitting dwellings, and the…

Lee County writes no pool-barrier specification of its own. Section 6-111 of the Land Development Code adopts the Florida Building Code by reference, so the residential barrier…

Unincorporated Lee County lets a homeowner build a private pool by right, but every pool, deck or screen enclosure must clear the accessory-structure setbacks in LDC Section 34-1176…

Lee County's open-burning article is not a permanent rule. It switches on only when the Board of County Commissioners declares a state of local emergency during extreme drought, and…

Lee County adopts the Florida Building Code by reference in LDC Section 6-111, so the statewide alarm rules apply here. The county adds one of its own: development outside an…

Lee County's open-burning article is not a standing ban. Campfires, bonfires and trash burning are prohibited only while the Board of County Commissioners has declared a state of local…

Unincorporated Lee County has its own fireworks article. You may not use, explode or store fireworks without a county display permit unless you fall within the railroad, industrial…

A propane or LNG tank up to 2,001 gallons, installed incidental to a permitted use on the parcel, does not need a Lee County development order, but Section 10-101(a)(3) still requires…

Lee County's sign code has a specific garage-sale category. No permit is needed as long as the sign goes up no more than 24 hours before the sale and comes down within 72 hours of the…

On your own property in unincorporated Lee County you may put up political or campaign signs of up to four square feet without a permit. Signs may go up no earlier than 60 days before…

Freeway-facing signs near I-75 interchanges in Lee County can rise as high as 100 feet and 750 square feet, but only one structure per quadrant, only for on-site auto and traveler…

A business in unincorporated Lee County can cover up to 30 percent of its window glass with signage advertising what's inside without needing a sign permit. Business information and…

Digital changing message signs are confined to I-75 frontage, designated arterial streets and a handful of named intersections in unincorporated Lee County. Each copy change must hold…

Lee County lets homes and businesses put up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations without a sign permit, but only within a fixed window: no more than 45 days before the holiday and no…

Table 34-695 caps lot coverage at 40 percent in the RS-1 through RS-5 single-family districts and TFC-2, at 45 percent in RSC-1, RSA, TFC-1 and TF-1, and at just 25 percent in RSC-2.

Table 34-695 in Lee County's Land Development Code sets minimum yards for one- and two-family districts. Side yards run from 5 to 15 feet by district, rear yards are 20 feet in most…

Table 34-695 sets a 35-foot maximum height across every one- and two-family residential district. Section 34-2175 overrides that in special areas: 33 feet on Greater Pine Island, and…

The Land Development Code has no tiny-home category. A small second unit behind a house is an accessory dwelling unit under Section 34-1177, limited to one per single-family residence…

In unincorporated Lee County a residential shed must sit at least five feet from the rear property line, and no closer to a side line than the district’s required side setback or ten…

Convert a garage and the space follows the rules for the part of the house it belongs to. Attached accessory space meets principal-building regulations; detached buildings sit at least…

Lee County allows one accessory apartment or one accessory dwelling unit per principal single-family residence. Living area is capped at 60 percent of the main home, and one extra…

County parks are open every day except emergencies and designated holidays, with opening and closing hours posted at each park. Staying in a closed park draws a $100 first-offense…

Piles of garbage, refuse, trash, rubbish, inoperative vehicles or abandoned property on private land in unincorporated Lee County are a declared public nuisance. So is grass over 12…

Grasses and weeds over 12 inches covering more than half an unimproved lot are a nuisance when within 150 feet of developed adjacent property in a platted subdivision or future urban…

On unincorporated Gulf of Mexico beaches, Lee County's sea turtle division bars artificial light from directly or indirectly illuminating nesting habitat during nesting season, defined…

Lee County does regulate light spilling off your lot. Outdoor lighting may not exceed 0.5 footcandle at the property line, or 0.2 footcandle ten feet inside adjacent residential…

Unincorporated Lee County lets billboards along I-75, Alico Road and Metro Parkway carry external floodlights or gooseneck reflectors, but the light source must aim only at the sign…

Unincorporated Lee County protects only the tree species named in the Land Development Code's Appendix E; those trees cannot be cut, injured or removed without a County permit, while…

New streets in unincorporated Lee County come with a planting bill of specifics: LDC § 10-296(5) requires 75 percent native Florida species among required street trees, minimum…

Lee County rewards developers for saving big trees instead of clearing them: under LDC § 10-416(a)(4), a preserved native heritage tree with at least a 20-inch caliper trunk counts…

Lee County parks don't impose their own drone rule; Sec. 20-27(h) simply requires unmanned aircraft use in County parks to comply with federal and state law. That's a lighter standard…

Lee County Port Authority rules bar anyone from flying a model aircraft, drone, rocket, kite, balloon or parachute at or on Southwest Florida International, Page Field or the county's…

Lee County makes it unlawful to drink or carry an open container of alcohol on any public street, sidewalk, parkway, beach or semi-public parking lot in unincorporated areas. Sec. 3-3…

Skateboards, roller blades, roller skates and scooters are confined to paved vehicular roads or specifically designated paths in every Lee County park under Sec. 20-27(g). Riding on…

Lee County's Sec. 19-1 makes it unlawful to loiter or prowl anywhere in unincorporated Lee County under circumstances that create a justifiable, reasonable alarm for the safety of…

Lee County bans smoking and vaping inside every public park and public beach it operates, plus on school property, under Sec. 20-28(b). The rule, adopted in 2025, defines both 'smoke'…

Lee County does not require fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes or manufactured homes; Section 6-553 exempts them from the supervisory-facility standard applied to other…

Unincorporated Lee County's own amendment to the Florida Building Code sets a hard pace for every building permit: the foundation inspection is the "first inspection," and it must be…

Lee County adopts the Florida Building Code by reference under Section 6-111 and requires a permit for nearly all construction, alteration or repair work in the unincorporated county…

Lee County doesn't require a film permit for ordinary shoots, but Sec. 19-185(a)(4) pulls filming into the special event permitting law the moment a production uses pyrotechnics…

Closing a residential street in unincorporated Lee County for a block party requires a special event permit under Sec. 19-185(a)(2) because the street is County property. The completed…

Booking a County park for an activity or special event requires a permit from the Parks and Recreation Director under Sec. 20-22(a)(3). The Director can only deny it on four specific…

Any Lee County event expected to draw 1,000 or more people, held on County property, or involving alcohol at a County facility or park needs a special event permit under Sec. 19-185…

In unincorporated Lee County's Lehigh Acres Community Plan Area, buildings in the Lee Plan's Downtown designation may rise to ten stories or 150 feet, whichever is less, while ordinary…

Unincorporated Lee County lets developers exceed a parcel's standard density range through the Bonus Density Program: one dwelling unit added on parcels an acre or smaller, or one unit…

A mobile food vendor in unincorporated Lee County cannot set up in any street right-of-way or street easement, full stop, and stopping there to sell also violates the county's parking…

Mobile food vendors in unincorporated Lee County must carry a valid state mobile-food-dispensing license, operate only in approved commercial, industrial and agritourism-linked zoning…

Mobile food vendors in unincorporated Lee County can only set up in commercial, industrial, marine-oriented or community-facilities zoning, on agricultural land tied to agritourism, or…

Construction disturbing more than one acre in unincorporated Lee County must have a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3) prepared by a licensed engineer, on file with the County…

No dock, boathouse, seawall or other shoreline structure can go up on unincorporated Lee County waters without a County permit. Applications need a site plan showing setbacks, slip…

Every new development in unincorporated Lee County must control its own stormwater runoff, and the on-site system has to follow South Florida Water Management District design standards…

Any development in a Lee County flood hazard area, filling, grading, subdivision, manufactured homes, pools, even utility work, needs a floodplain development permit from the County…

Land Development Code § 10-253 sets the elevation floor for building in Lee County's floodplain: the first habitable floor must sit at least 18 inches above the street centerline and…

Lee County prohibits relocating, removing, altering, renaming or rededicating any war memorial, statue or plaque on county-owned property once it honors a recognized U.S. Armed Forces…

Lee County lets Boca Grande Historic District businesses put tables, chairs and sales racks on the public sidewalk in front of their shops without a separate permit, as long as a…

Sidewalk maintenance duty in unincorporated Lee County depends on who built the sidewalk and where it sits, not on who lives next to it. LDC § 10-256(4) puts the county in charge of…

Once a deputy has issued a warning, or where a 'no loitering' sign is posted, Sec. 19-1(c) makes it unlawful to loiter, stand, sit or lie on any public sidewalk, street, curb…

Lee County's AG-1, AG-2 and AG-3 zoning districts exist specifically to preserve working farms, per LDC § 34-651, and § 34-652 defers to Florida's Right to Farm Act, F.S. § 604.50…

Lee County's noise ordinance sets a 66 dBA daytime and 55 dBA nighttime limit for agricultural land as a receiving use, the same tier as residential property. But under Sec. 19-152(7)…

Any tow or immobilization company doing non-consent work in unincorporated Lee County needs a Sheriff's Office operator permit, background-checked and renewed yearly. The article also…

Unincorporated Lee County keeps sexually oriented businesses 1,000 feet from homes, schools, churches and similar uses, bars anyone under 18 from the premises, and cuts off…

Lee County does not license massage establishments itself: the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation does that under Florida Statutes Chapter 480. What the…

Lee County lets hurricane shutters encroach one foot into a required setback, so an attached accordion or roll-down shutter never needs a variance to install. Every shutter and every…

Before building in a Lee County flood hazard area, Section 6-433 requires a floodplain development permit from the Floodplain Administrator. Manufactured and replacement manufactured…

Lee County's own Wind-Borne Debris Region and Basic Wind Speed Map, adopted under Section 6-112, sets local wind-speed zones tied to Florida Building Code Figures 1609A-C that decide…

On Upper Captiva, the barrier island north and west of the state park on North Captiva, Lee County's Land Development Code orders every property owner to entirely eradicate Brazilian…

Lee County's Noise Control Ordinance caps sound levels by land use and time of day, but Sec. 19-152(6) carves out safety features required by law, including backup alarms and vehicle…

Lee County lets standby emergency generators be tested only between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, for no more than 30 minutes once a week, under Sec. 19-152(8)a…

Lee County's Landscape Code makes water conservation an explicit design goal, and backs it with a number: LDC § 10-416(b) caps turfgrass at ten percent of the required landscape area…

Every customer of a Lee County Utilities reclaimed water system needs a permit before connecting, applied for at least 90 days ahead of hookup. The rules ban cross-connecting reclaimed…

Unincorporated Lee County bans standing or parking a vehicle in an exclusive bicycle lane under Code of Ordinances § 28-104(2)f, even briefly. A standard violation draws a $32 fine…

Lee County's Code Enforcement Officers cannot open a case on an anonymous tip. Section 2-430(c)(2) of the Land Development Code requires anyone reporting a suspected zoning, building…