Coastal development rules do not apply in Madison County. It sits in the inland Tennessee Valley of North Alabama, roughly 300 miles from the Gulf, so the Alabama Coastal Area Management Act reaches nothing here.
The Alabama Coastal Area Management Act and ADEM's Coastal Program cover only Mobile and Baldwin counties along the Gulf. Madison County is inland North Alabama, in the Tennessee River watershed near Huntsville, so there is no coastal zone, no construction control line, and no coastal permit to obtain. The closest analog for waterfront work is federal, not coastal: building a dock, seawall, boat ramp, or fill along the shoreline of a TVA reservoir such as Wheeler Lake or Guntersville Lake requires a TVA Section 26a permit from the Tennessee Valley Authority. That is a reservoir-management approval, entirely separate from the Gulf coastal program, and it is the rule that governs shoreline construction here.
No coastal-development rule applies inland. Building a dock, seawall, or fill on a TVA reservoir shoreline without a TVA Section 26a permit draws federal enforcement and removal orders from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Madison County, AL
Madison County has no ordinance regulating holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays in unincorporated areas, and Alabama has no statute on them. A homeo...
Madison County, AL
Garage-sale signs face no Madison County zoning rule on your own property. But Alabama Code §23-1-6 makes it illegal to plant a sign in a state highway right...
Madison County, AL
Madison County imposes no zoning signage rules, so political signs on your own land need no county permit. Alabama Code §23-1-6 bars signs in a state highway...
Madison County, AL
Unincorporated Madison County has no rental registration. The county runs zoning and building inspection but no landlord registry, so it cannot license, regi...
Madison County, AL
Alabama has no just-cause eviction rule, and Madison County cannot add one. Under Alabama Code §35-9A-421 a landlord ends a tenancy with a seven-business-day...
Madison County, AL
Rent control is illegal in unincorporated Madison County. Alabama Code §11-80-8.1 bars every county, city, and town from enacting or enforcing any ordinance ...
See how Madison County's coastal development rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.