Margate, FL Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

This page covers canal retaining walls, the seawall-style structures along Margate's canals, which Chapter 11 regulates. Under § 11-1(d) it is unlawful to build a canal retaining wall on a canal, waterway, lake or basin without permits from the City Engineer and the Building and Code Services Department, and § 11-17 reaches privately owned, government-owned and publicly dedicated canals in or adjacent to the city. An owner or a licensed, qualified contractor can apply.

The application carries plans with a location sketch, ties to land lines or platted property lines, the total length in feet, the mean low water, mean high water and cap-top elevations referenced to NGS mean sea level datum in NAVD88, and the seal and signature of a Florida registered professional civil engineer. The applicant must also name the current owner during construction and the future owner who will own and maintain the wall.

Only two wall types get permits: precast reinforced concrete (T-pile and slab) and sheet piling. The cap top sits at least two feet above normal water elevation, or at the level the engineering department sets, and a berm at least one foot wide goes in front of the wall no higher than the mean low water mark, with a swale landward of the berm. Walls must resist retained material pressures including dead and live load surcharge, stay stable against overturning and sliding, and resist at least twice the computed active horizontal thrust. Concrete walls use five-inch slabs and sixteen-inch caps, with slab penetration three feet below berm elevation. T-piles go at least ten feet below berm elevation and concrete sheet piling at least five feet, except at point of refusal. The city can require additional drawings, calculations or test results.

Under § 11-18, the permit fee is $35.00 for the first 60 lineal feet plus $3.50 for each additional 10 feet or fraction, and the inspection fee is $25.00 per 100 lineal feet, paid at application. Section 11-19.1 requires a retaining wall ladder with any new, replaced or substantially improved wall.