Margate, FL Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Section 11-1(d) makes it unlawful to build docks, boat ramps, canal retaining walls or any other structure on or in canals, waterways, lakes or basins without permits from the City Engineer and the Building and Code Services Department, and § 11-20 sets the terms. The application needs detailed plans and specifications, a plot plan or survey placing the structure against adjoining lands and waters, and proposed landscaping with the name of who maintains it, all prepared by a Florida registered professional engineer. As-built drawings and a final certification of compliance to that engineer's design must reach the city before the certificate of completion issues.

Before the permit issues, the abutting owner signs an agreement to indemnify and hold the city harmless, binding on heirs, assigns and successors and recorded in the public records of Broward County. The engineering fee is 5½ percent of the cost of the proposed work with a minimum of $100, plus the Building and Code Services fee from the fee schedule adopted by the City Commission.

A dock, pier or piling cannot extend from the canal retaining wall more than ten percent of the canal width next to the property, and it can cover a maximum of 1,000 square feet. Where there is no wall, the distance runs from the property line, or from the average high-water line if the land is not submerged. Nothing can impede navigation, public recreation or drainage flow, and reflectors are required. The dock must stay at least ten feet from the neighboring property line, and neither finger piers nor floating docks are permitted. Height cannot exceed the canal retaining wall, or 4 feet 6 inches above mean high water where no wall exists. A new, replacement or substantially improved dock on an existing wall needs an engineer's certification of the wall's capacity and integrity.

The permit holder keeps the dock in good repair and maintains and beautifies a reasonable area around it, and cannot charge rent or fees for its use. Buildings are not allowed on the waterway, and fencing cannot extend over open water.