Satellite Beach, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Sec. 30-711 of the Satellite Beach City Code, in the surface-water-runoff-management division of the land development regulations, sets the city's core performance standard: all development and redevelopment must be designed, constructed and maintained so runoff characteristics approximate the rate, volume, quality and timing that occurred under the site's natural, unimproved state, with at least the first inch of runoff treated in an on-site retention system. Sec. 30-712 backs that standard with design requirements a licensed engineer must certify: the system must have a design service life of at least 50 years, must treat runoff originating on the site while letting water from adjacent lands cross unimpeded without harming any conservation easement, must use on-site percolation to the maximum extent practicable, and must slope detention and retention banks no steeper than one foot vertical to four feet horizontal to support native vegetation.

The system cannot discharge into sanitary sewers, cannot impede other drainage systems, and cannot use natural surface waters as sediment traps. Where the city engineer determines a system will function as part of the city's own network, Sec. 30-713 requires it be dedicated to the city; otherwise the property owner or controlling entity keeps it in compliance with these standards. Sec. 30-710 layers in compliance with St. Johns River Water Management District rules and applicable state and federal regulation, applying whichever provision is most restrictive.