Melbourne, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

The city's stormwater management ordinance, cited in Sec. 50-42 as the 'City of Melbourne Stormwater Management Ordinance,' requires a permit under Sec. 50-47 before a property owner may subdivide land, change a land use, construct or alter a system or structure, or otherwise disturb the site's natural drainage. Sec. 50-47(b) names eight specific triggers: clearing or building ditches and swales, clearing or draining nonagricultural land for farming, converting agricultural land to another use, subdividing land, replatting a subdivision, changing land use or structure size, altering a shoreline or bank, and increasing a parcel's impervious area. Sec. 50-48 carves out exemptions for parcels whose drainage is already covered by an approved subdivision or construction plan, bona fide agriculture without an artificial drainage system, routine maintenance, and single-family or duplex construction on already-developed lots with an established runoff pattern.

Once a permit is required, Sec. 50-49 sets the engineering content of the plan: it must avoid creating flood, safety or health hazards, must not increase the net loading of nitrogen, phosphorus or sediment to receiving waters, and must enhance groundwater recharge while limiting runoff in designated recharge areas. Sec. 50-49(b) requires pre- and post-development runoff to be modeled with NRCS Technical Release 55 methodology, requires a minimum 20-year system design life, and requires retention or detention pond side slopes no steeper than five-to-one where water is meant to stand, or three-to-one for a normally dry basin, unless the pond is instead fenced to swimming-pool standards. The Sec. 50-14 stormwater utility program that funds plan review and maintenance runs on a separate annual assessment billed to every property owner in the designated benefit area.