Boca Raton, FL Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Sec. 21-195 singles out retaining walls, sidewalks and driveways because all three typically involve placing fill, and fill placed inside a designated floodway can push floodwaters onto neighboring properties by narrowing the channel that carries them. The section cross-references Sec. 21-154, Limitations on sites in floodways, which prohibits authorizing any development or land-disturbing activity in a floodway, including fill or regrading, unless a floodway encroachment analysis required under Sec. 21-68(1) demonstrates no increase in the base flood elevation. ' Sec. 21-155 adds that any fill placed near a wall must be designed to stay stable through rapid rise and drawdown of floodwaters and prolonged inundation, and if the fill supports a building or structure in Zone A, it must also meet Florida Building Code requirements.

Outside mapped floodways, the city's separate marine structures chapter regulates retaining walls differently: Sec. 00 feet above mean low water for any bulkhead or retaining wall built in the waters of Lake Boca Raton. The floodplain administrator in the development services department reviews floodway retaining wall applications and can require the sealed floodway encroachment analysis before issuing the permit.