Sumter County, FL Ordinances (2026)

Any land-disturbing activity in unincorporated Sumter County that could cause sedimentation or erosion must control it with best management practices and needs agency approval first…

Development in unincorporated Sumter County must retain stormwater sized to a 25-year, 24-hour storm for open drainage basins or the 100-year, 24-hour event for closed basins, and…

Unincorporated Sumter County regulates every development activity in a mapped flood hazard area under Article XI, the county's Floodplain Management Ordinance beginning at Sec…

Sumter County's local amendment to the Florida Building Code, Residential, Sec. 6-72, requires the lowest floor of buildings in flood hazard areas to sit at or above the base flood…

Sumter County Code § 21-1(a) requires every household's garbage and litter to go to a permitted landfill or be picked up by an arranged solid waste collector. Residents cannot simply…

Dumping household garbage, litter or debris on private or public property in Sumter County is a crime. Sumter County Code § 21-1(a) makes the deposit unlawful, and § 21-1(c) punishes…

Commercial, institutional and multifamily sites in unincorporated Sumter County must screen dumpsters and refuse areas with a six-foot masonry wall or an eight-foot landscape buffer…

Sumter County doesn't set curbside yard-waste pickup rules directly in its code, but its fertilizer ordinance bars residents and landscapers from blowing, sweeping or washing grass…

Anyone building, installing or maintaining a utility line, driveway, pavement or other object inside a Sumter County road right-of-way needs a permit first. Sumter County Code §…

Sumter County Code § 20-86(a) puts sidewalk upkeep on homeowners, not the county. Once a subdivision builder installs a residential sidewalk under the county's subdivision regulations…

Sumter County bans parking commercial vehicles on residential driveways in the unincorporated area unless they sit inside a fully enclosed garage, are loading or unloading, or the…

Sumter County requires developments that receive routine deliveries to build dedicated off-street loading areas sized to the delivery vehicles they serve, with a posted no-parking sign…

In unincorporated Sumter County, Code § 17-53 bars stopping, standing or parking on sidewalks, in intersections, on crosswalks, in front of driveways or within 15 feet of a fire…

Unincorporated Sumter County allows only one inoperable vehicle per lot; a second one is a prima facie nuisance under Code § 6-104(4), and § 6-105 gives owners just two fixes: remove…

Sumter County caps light poles at 16 feet in pedestrian areas and 35 feet elsewhere, and requires every exterior fixture on new development to be a concealed-source, cut-off design so…

Sumter County bans lighting arranged or operated so it glares onto adjoining streets or residential property, or unnecessarily illuminates a neighboring parcel enough to substantially…

Sumter County requires major development to design around trees 24 inches or larger in diameter and bars removing or damaging them unless a specific listed condition applies, such as…

Landscape buffers required between adjoining parcels in unincorporated Sumter County must be at least 30 percent native and drought-tolerant tree species, and no single species can…

Grass, weeds, or other plant growth taller than 24 inches on residential or commercial land in unincorporated Sumter County is a prima facie nuisance under Code § 6-104(5), defined the…

In every county park and recreation area, Sumter County Code § 18-34(b) makes it unlawful to catch, injure, destroy or interfere with birds, squirrels or any wild animal, with only…

Sumter County requires every cat four months or older to carry a current rabies vaccination and a metal license tag from Animal Services under Sec. 4-6(c). Cats entering the county…

Sumter County Code § 4-10 bans letting a dog or cat stray or run at large on any public street, sidewalk, or another person's property in unincorporated Sumter County. Animal control…

Sumter County Code § 13-200 bans commercial kennels from buying, selling or breeding dogs and cats, but the same definition expressly excludes pet shops from the 'commercial kennel'…

Unincorporated Sumter County lets residents keep farm and non-farm animals on agricultural and rural residential parcels, but Sumter County Code § 13-561 ties the number allowed to…

Sumter County has no breed-specific ban. Instead, Sec. 4-8 lets the county administrator declare any individual dog dangerous based on its behavior, after which the owner must register…

Sumter County does not require microchips on every pet, but Sec. 4-8(b)(3) requires permanent identification, a tattoo or an implanted microchip, before a dog classified dangerous can…

Sumter County requires every exotic animal, and every wolf or coyote hybrid that doesn't qualify as FWC Class II wildlife, to be registered with Animal Services under Sec. 4-9, housed…

Sumter County does not require every pet to be spayed or neutered, but Sec. 4-18 bars keeping an unsterilized cat over four months outdoors unattended, Sec. 4-8(b)(5) requires…

Sumter County's zoning use table lets a large-animal veterinary clinic locate by right in the Agricultural (A10, A10C), low-density Rural Residential (RR5, RR5C), and Industrial (ID)…

Sumter County bars residents and lawn crews from running lawn care, landscaping and tree-maintenance equipment, mowers, saws, tractors and trimmers included, between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00…

Sumter County treats a dog barking, howling or whining continuously between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. as a noise disturbance once it meets the county's definition under Code § 16-105…

In unincorporated Sumter County, residential addition and renovation work done under an active county development permit cannot occur between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Code § 16-108(5)…

Sumter County's Noise Control Ordinance sets a numeric trigger in Sec. 16-106(5): any noise source on a property is a prohibited disturbance if it registers above sixty decibels…

Sumter County Code § 16-108(1) bans playing radios, TVs, musical instruments, or amplifying the human voice loudly enough to disturb a reasonable person's quiet in any residence or…

Sumter County adopts the state's open-burning standards by reference. Sumter County Code § 21-1(b) folds Florida Administrative Code Chapter 5I-2.004 into county law, so burning…

Anyone planning a public fireworks display in unincorporated Sumter County must get a permit from the fire prevention department at least 15 days beforehand under Code § 6-161, and the…

In unincorporated Sumter County, mobile vendors may set up only on parcels zoned or designated commercial, mixed-use or industrial under the county comprehensive plan, per Sumter…

Unincorporated Sumter County allows yard and garage sales at any residence, but Sumter County Code § 13-539 caps them at three days out of any rolling thirty-day period on the same…

Sumter County bans drinking alcohol in, on, or around any county-owned building, park, or vacant land unless the Board of County Commissioners approves a sanctioned event in writing…

Sumter County's noise code singles out house parties: sounds from a residence or a residential common area that would not normally count as a noise disturbance under Code § 16-105…

Sumter County makes it unlawful under Sec. 16-22 to loiter in or near any public street, right-of-way, or public or private place in a manner and under circumstances that show a…

Sumter County Code § 13-564 requires every massage establishment to employ or contract a therapist licensed by Florida's Board of Massage Therapy under F.S. § 480.031, and the county…

Sumter County Code § 13-572 confines sexually oriented businesses to zoning districts where Table 13-417A lists them as a permitted use, then layers on distance rules: any such…

Sumter County caps what wrecker operators can charge for non-consent tows, adopting the maximum towing and storage rates set by the local Florida Highway Patrol troop as the ceiling…

A home auto-repair operation in unincorporated Sumter County must run as an accessory home-based business: all parts, tools and vehicles being worked on have to sit inside a fully…

Sumter County Code § 13-565 blocks any new medical cannabis dispensary from opening in the unincorporated county, exercising a local opt-out cited to Ch. 232(11)(b)(1), F.S…

In unincorporated Sumter County, developers and property owners must remove undesirable exotic vegetation during site clearing, construction, or redevelopment, and county code bars…

Large developments and demolitions of buildings 50 years or older in unincorporated Sumter County need a clearance letter from the Florida Division of Historical Resources under Land…

Sumter County Code § 6-19(a)(8) makes it unlawful to commence or perform any work for which a building permit is required under F.S. ch. 553, pt. VII, without that permit already in…

Sumter County building permits run six months from issuance before they must be renewed or the work re-permitted as new. The permit must be posted at the job site, inspections are…

Sumter County doesn't fix a single closing time in its code for county parks; instead Code § 18-32 lets the Board of County Commissioners set each park's hours of operation by…

Sumter County restricts reclaimed water lines and irrigation near public wellfields. Wellhead protection zones extend 200 feet (primary) and 500 feet (secondary) around each wellhead…

Sumter County allows one accessory dwelling unit per lot in agricultural and residential zones. The parcel must be at least a half acre, the ADU cannot count toward density, and its…

Sumter County caps a residential storage building at 1,000 square feet and requires a building permit before it goes up, even if the shed is otherwise exempt elsewhere in the code…

Sumter County allows home-based businesses by right as an accessory use in every agricultural and residential zoning district. Owners must comply with Florida's home-based business…

A home-based business in unincorporated Sumter County may post exactly one sign, capped at ten square feet, and the sign cannot be illuminated. The limit applies uniformly in every…

A small family day care home is a permitted use by right across Sumter County's agricultural, rural residential and low-density urban residential districts, plus all four commercial…

Sumter County protects bona fide farm operations from new local rules. Farm buildings, fences and signs on land used for bona fide agricultural purposes are exempt from the Florida…

Parades, festivals, carnivals and other special public assembly events in unincorporated Sumter County need a temporary use permit capped at fourteen event-days per site each calendar…

Sumter County's Land Development Code sets minimum side and rear yard setbacks by residential zoning district in Table 13-413A: 15 feet in the rural residential districts, 10 feet in…

Habitable structures in unincorporated Sumter County are capped at 35 feet by right across every single-family residential district, from the rural RR5 zone through the R6 urban…

Sumter County lets a landowner in the agricultural future land use category trade a PUD rezoning and a permanent conservation easement for extra density: one dwelling unit per three…

Sumter County bans any private sign or temporary display, campaign signs included, from property the Board of County Commissioners owns or leases under a maintenance clause. Sec…

Sumter County does not set a blanket retaining wall height or permit rule; the only quotable standard applies to retaining walls built inside a regulated floodway. Sec. 13-1116(c) ties…

Sumter County no longer licenses general door-to-door peddlers; that old article was repealed in 2010. What remains is Sec. 14-79, which requires charitable organizations registered…

In unincorporated Sumter County, new homes in mapped flood hazard areas must have their lowest floor elevated to the base flood elevation plus one foot, or the design flood elevation…

Unincorporated Sumter County treats rubbish, trash, or garbage left to accumulate on any lot, including vacant land, as a prima facie nuisance under Code § 6-104(2), and the…

A dwelling, building, or structure that is unsafe under Sumter County's Unsafe Building and Abatement Code and endangers health or safety is a prima facie nuisance under Code §…

Sumter County Code § 6-104 lists the conditions residents can report as prima facie nuisances in the unincorporated area: mosquito-breeding conditions, accumulated rubbish, unsafe…