Gulfport, FL Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Sec. 6-38 governs every seawall, bulkhead and retaining wall built or altered in the city and requires concrete construction to specific minimum standards. Seawalls and bulkheads must use tongue-and-groove sheet-pile construction with a poured-in-place concrete cap and tie-back anchors; the concrete must test to at least 3,000 psi at 28 days, with reinforcing steel covered by at least two inches of concrete. Sheet piling must be at least five inches thick with vertical #4 deformed reinforcing bars spaced twelve inches on center and horizontal #3 bars spaced one foot on center.

The concrete cap must be at least twelve inches thick and fourteen inches wide, with slabs projecting at least three inches into it, and tie-back rods must be steel, spaced no more than twelve feet on center, at least eighteen feet long with a twelve-inch L-bend, and coated with an approved bitumastic compound unless the building inspector approves a shorter length. The top of every seawall cap must sit at least three and a half feet above mean high tide of the adjacent tidal waters, and no permitted structure may materially interfere with surface drainage flow into those waters.

These specifications trace to Ordinance No. 62-10 (1962) and were amended by Ordinance No. 77-15 (1977); a standard-specifications drawing referenced in Sec. 6-44 is on file with the city clerk and applies alongside the written minimums, including a ten-foot minimum slab length for walls facing the open expanse of Boca Ciega Bay.