Charlotte County, FL Hurricane Preparedness: Hurricane Shutters (2026)

Section 2-1-44 targets the plywood and shutters residents put up ahead of a storm and then forget to take down. Any unpermitted storm shutter left on a residential or commercial structure for more than 30 days after November 30, the close of hurricane season, is a code violation. The exemption applies to shutters that were permitted, or to plywood window and door coverings installed to meet the boarding standard in Appendix A of the International Property Maintenance Code or the Florida Building Code, meaning a homeowner who pulled the correct permit or followed the recognized boarding standard doesn't have to remove the covering on that 30-day clock.

The section also addresses egress: while a storm threat is active, shutters, panels, and other hurricane protection devices are allowed over emergency escape and rescue openings and egress doors, but at least one means of escape must remain available from the first floor of the dwelling, it can't run through a garage unless that garage has a side-hinged door leading straight outside, and it can't pass through a lockable door the occupant doesn't control. Finally, the section carves out unoccupied structures entirely: an owner is never required to remove permitted shutters, panels, or other approved protection from the windows of a structure nobody is living in.

The rule was adopted by Ordinance No. 2018-022 and sits in Article I of Chapter 2-1, the same chapter that houses the county's declaration-of-emergency and curfew powers used every hurricane season, including after Hurricane Ian's 2022 landfall.