100 local rules on file · Pop. 42,719 · Lee County
Showing ordinances that apply to North Fort Myers, FL
North Fort Myers is an unincorporated community with a population of approximately 42,719 in Lee County, Florida. Because North Fort Myers is not an incorporated city, it does not have its own municipal government or city code. Instead, Lee County ordinances apply directly to residential and commercial properties here. The rules below are the county-level regulations that govern your area. Nearby incorporated cities in Lee County may have different rules.
In unincorporated Lee County, each duplex or two-family attached unit needs its own driveway at least 20 feet wide and 20 feet long, built of concrete, asphalt or concrete pavers, and…
The county code sets no countywide overnight street-parking curfew, but you may not park a vehicle more than 24 continuous hours on public property to display it for sale, hire or…
In unincorporated Lee County an inoperative vehicle left on private property is a "nuisance accumulation" subject to immediate abatement. Penalties run to $250 a day, 60 days in jail…
Two Lee County rules bar commercial trucks from residential property: LDC Section 34-1181 and the county's Commercial Truck Parking Ordinance. Both cover semis, trucks with two or more…
Section 28-104 of the Lee County Code bars stopping, standing or parking on sidewalks, in intersections, on crosswalks and bike paths, on bridges and railroad tracks, and wherever…
Lee County does not limit how many RVs or boats you keep at your home. The rule that applies in residential zones bans commercial trucks, and a recreational vehicle is expressly…
You cannot park or store a tractor-trailer, a truck with two or more rear axles, or any truck over 15,000 pounds GVWR on residentially or agriculturally zoned Lee County land, or on…
Lee County's code sets no residential curb-color scheme. Official No Parking signs are posted by the county Department under the MUTCD, and altering or defacing an official…
Lee County sets no electric vehicle charging rule of its own. In Florida this area is governed by the Florida Building Code, which sets construction standards but imposes no separate…
Commercial and industrial sites in unincorporated Lee County must provide off-street loading areas sized and placed to code, keep required spaces clear of merchandise displays, and…
Lee County does regulate backyard poultry. The Land Development Code permits keeping, raising and breeding chickens in any AG district, and by special exception in RS-4 and RS-5, with…
Where you may keep horses, goats, sheep, swine and poultry in unincorporated Lee County is set by Land Development Code Chapter 34, Article VII, Division 6. It fixes minimum lot sizes…
Lee County's animal chapter sets no fixed number of dogs or cats per home. Instead it makes it unlawful to keep animals that are dangerous by number or type, treats keeping animals for…
Any cat four months or older in Lee County must be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian and licensed, with the tag on a collar or harness unless the cat carries a…
Lee County's Land Development Code, not just the state, controls exotic pets. Keeping, raising or breeding Class I or Class II animals, American alligators or venomous reptiles is…
Lee County requires animals to stay under direct control - a fence, or a leash no longer than eight feet, cord or chain strong enough to restrain them. Letting a dog roam onto streets…
Lee County’s animal chapter names no banned breed. It regulates individual animals by behavior: the animal services director declares an animal dangerous, which triggers confinement…
Lee County sets no beekeeping rule of its own. In Florida this area is governed by the state beekeeping law administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture, which preempts local…
Lee County has no ordinance that uses the word hoarding. It reaches those cases through Sec. 4-23, which demands adequate food, water, shelter and veterinary care and bars keeping…
Lee County does write its own feeding rules. In county parks, Section 20-23(d) bars giving food to any wild animal and bars luring wildlife. Section 4-28(b) prohibits possessing or…
In unincorporated Lee County a residential shed must sit at least five feet from the rear property line, and no closer to a side line than the district’s required side setback or ten…
A carport is an accessory structure that must sit on the same lot and zoning as the house. Detached carports need a five-foot rear setback and may sit closer to the street than the…
The Land Development Code has no tiny-home category. A small second unit behind a house is an accessory dwelling unit under Section 34-1177, limited to one per single-family residence…
Convert a garage and the space follows the rules for the part of the house it belongs to. Attached accessory space meets principal-building regulations; detached buildings sit at least…
Lee County allows one accessory apartment or one accessory dwelling unit per principal single-family residence. Living area is capped at 60 percent of the main home, and one extra…
The Lee County code contains no vacation-rental operating permit. What the county does impose is the tourist development tax: anyone renting living quarters for a term of six months or…
There is no Lee County vacation-rental registry in either code. The registration that does exist is a tax one: you register as a dealer with the Clerk of Court's Internal Audit…
Unincorporated Lee County's code does not require a short-term rental to be your primary residence. The one owner-occupancy rule in the Land Development Code applies to bed and…
Most of unincorporated Lee County's code sets no cap on how many nights you may rent. Captiva Island is the exception: on RSC-2 lots, Section 33-1626 bars renting or leasing for…
Lee County sets no host presence rule rule of its own. In Florida this area is governed by Florida's state vacation-rental law, which limits how far a local government may regulate…
Lee County sets no vacation-rental-only noise rule. The countywide noise article binds rental guests exactly as it binds any household, at 66 dBA by day and 55 dBA overnight in…
Lee County sets no occupancy limits rule of its own. In Florida this area is governed by Florida's state vacation-rental law, which limits how far a local government may regulate…
Lee County levies a tourist development tax on any living quarters rented for six months or less: three percent under Section 26-181(a), plus one percent under (b) and another one…
Lee County's code has no parking rule written specifically for vacation rentals. Guest parking at an unincorporated-county rental follows the Land Development Code's off-street parking…
Lee County sets no insurance requirements rule of its own. In Florida this area is governed by Florida's state vacation-rental law, which limits how far a local government may regulate…
Lee County allows home occupations by right in every zoning district that permits dwelling units. The Land Development Code caps on-site workers at two, limits signage to one…
Lee County's zoning code treats a family day care home differently from a day care center. Family day care homes are exempt from the special-exception requirement under F.S. 125.0109…
Lee County allows home occupations by right in every district that permits dwellings. The business must stay clearly incidental to living there, no more than two employees or…
A Lee County home occupation gets one sign: a single non-illuminated nameplate, no more than one square foot, attached to the building at or next to the primary entrance. Nothing else…
Lee County's code does not set cottage food standards, but it does govern the business side: home occupations are allowed by right in every district permitting dwellings, and the…
Lee County does not ban leaf blowers. The Noise Control Ordinance exempts lawn care, domestic power tools, lawn mowers and tree maintenance between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Outside…
Lee County sets no fixed construction curfew. Power-driven construction equipment needs a muffler unless it stays under the Table 1 limit for the receiving land, and 24-hour equipment…
Table 1 in Sec. 19-151 caps manufacturing or industrial receiving land at 75 dBA and 80 dBC at all times. Where industry came first and homes encroached later, the industrial limit…
Outdoor music in unincorporated Lee County counts as a source of sound under the county noise article. Residential areas are capped at 66 dBA by day and 55 dBA overnight, and exceeding…
Lee County sets no separate decibel limit for motor vehicles. A car, truck or motorcycle is treated like any other sound source under Table 1 - 66 dBA by day and 55 dBA overnight on…
In unincorporated Lee County the residential sound limit drops from 66 dBA to 55 dBA between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., measured within the receiving property. Incorporated cities set…
Two rules cover a barking dog in unincorporated Lee County. The animal chapter makes it unlawful for any animal to bark, howl, whine or screech in a way that disturbs a reasonable…
Lee County caps sound at the receiving property: 66 dBA day and 55 dBA night in residential areas, 72 and 65 in commercial areas, and 75 dBA at all times in industrial areas. Matching…
The Lee County Noise Control Ordinance names amplified bass in its definition of noise. In residential areas the limit is 66 dBA in the daytime and 55 dBA between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m…
Lee County's noise ordinance does not apply to noise created by the operation of all Lee County airports. The Land Development Code manages airport noise through land use instead…
Lee County adopts the Florida Building Code by reference, so pool work is permitted under it. The county adds its own rules: a floodplain permit where the site is in a flood hazard…
In unincorporated Lee County a residential pool is an accessory recreational facility under Land Development Code section 34-1176. A pool wall rising more than three and a half feet…
Lee County writes no pool-barrier specification of its own. Section 6-111 of the Land Development Code adopts the Florida Building Code by reference, so the residential barrier…
Lee County writes no spa-specific safety rule of its own. It adopts the Florida Building Code by reference for construction and permitting, while its zoning code controls where a hot…
Lee County writes no pool-barrier standard of its own. It adopts the Florida Building Code by reference, and its own maintenance rules declare an untended or unenclosed swimming pool a…
Lee County's water conservation article lets you water any plant material with rain barrels, cisterns or other rain-harvesting devices without regard to the watering days and times it…
In unincorporated Lee County you must cut and keep cut all grasses and weeds to a height not exceeding 12 inches. Overgrowth becomes a nuisance when it covers more than half an…
Unincorporated Lee County bans landscape irrigation between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. every day and assigns watering days by address, tightening to one day a week from February through…
The Lee County Lot Mowing Ordinance makes grasses and weeds over 12 inches nuisance vegetation in unincorporated areas. After written notice you get 21 days to cut, then the county…
A tree protected by LDC Article V may be removed only after a permit is secured from the administrator. Protected means listed in Appendix E; any other species may come down without a…
Vegetation the Code requires may only be pruned to promote healthy, uniform, natural growth, following ANSI A300 Part 1 and ISA best practices. Severely pruned trees must be replaced…
The Lee County Landscape Code sets no standard for artificial or synthetic turf. What it does require is living plant material: nursery-grade stock, 75 percent native trees and 50…
Lee County's Land Development Code sets a hard native-species share for code-required landscaping: at least 75 percent of trees and 50 percent of shrubs must be native Florida species…
Nothing in Lee County's code bans composting yard waste generated on your own property. What the code does regulate is composting material brought in from elsewhere, which needs…
Lee County bars nontraditional fence materials such as tires, mufflers and hubcaps, and does not let you weave fabric, plastic, metal or vinyl sheets or slats into a fence for privacy…
Lee County's fence rules govern where a fence goes rather than who pays for it. No fence may sit in a street right-of-way or easement, or within five feet of the mean high-water line…
Lee County's Land Development Code caps most residential fences at six feet in side and rear yards and three feet in front, requires uniform materials and a finished side facing…
A retaining wall over 25 inches high needs a building permit under the Land Development Code. On the water, a retaining wall must sit at least five feet back from the mean high water…
Land Development Code section 34-1742(a) requires a building permit for any fence or wall over 25 inches in height, except fences for bona fide agricultural uses or for conservation by…
Lee County requires fences and walls built of conventional and traditional materials: concrete block, brick, wood, decorative aluminum, iron or steel, chain link or purpose-made…
In unincorporated Lee County a fence between the street and the required setback line is capped at three feet, or four if open mesh, while a fence along a side or rear lot line may…
Lee County has no everyday permit scheme for backyard fire pits in its code. Its open-burning article only switches on in a drought emergency, when campfires, bonfires and trash…
Lee County's open-burning article is not a permanent rule. It switches on only when the Board of County Commissioners declares a state of local emergency during extreme drought, and…
Lee County's open-burning article is not a standing ban. Campfires, bonfires and trash burning are prohibited only while the Board of County Commissioners has declared a state of local…
Lee County adopts the Florida Building Code by reference in LDC Section 6-111, so the statewide alarm rules apply here. The county adds one of its own: development outside an…
Lee County's code states no defensible-space distance around a house. It handles fire-prone ground differently: vegetation over 12 inches and debris accumulations that create a fire…
Lee County's Land Development Code sets no residential propane storage limit, but it draws two lines: propane or LNG tanks up to 2,001 gallons need County Fire Official approval…
Unincorporated Lee County has its own fireworks article. You may not use, explode or store fireworks without a county display permit unless you fall within the railroad, industrial…
Lee County manages wildfire risk with an emergency open-burning ban rather than a mapped hazard zone. When drought pushes the Keetch-Byram index to 600 or higher, commissioners can…
The Land Development Code treats a garage or yard sale as a residential accessory use and caps it: no more than one week per sale, and no more than two garage or yard sales per year at…
Owners, agents, custodians, lessees and occupants in unincorporated Lee County must cut and keep grasses and weeds to a height not exceeding 12 inches, including on the easements…
Piles of garbage, refuse, trash, rubbish, inoperative vehicles or abandoned property on private land in unincorporated Lee County are a declared public nuisance. So is grass over 12…
If you own a home in unincorporated Lee County you must supply approved receptacles big enough for all your household waste. A can may hold up to 40 gallons or 50 pounds and needs a…
Grasses and weeds over 12 inches covering more than half an unimproved lot are a nuisance when within 150 feet of developed adjacent property in a platted subdivision or future urban…
In unincorporated Lee County, the franchised hauler collects garbage, trash, recyclables and horticulture waste once per week each, at the curb within six feet of the roadway. Bulky…
In unincorporated Lee County, franchised haulers collect garbage, recyclables and horticulture waste once a week at the curb, within six feet of the roadway. Carts may go out no…
Every business and multifamily property in unincorporated Lee County must run an on-site recycling program. Businesses recycle at least one material with collection at least every two…
Lee County's own litter article bans throwing or depositing litter in any manner or amount on public places. County fines start at $50.00 and climb to $500.00 for a third violation.
Curbside service in the county's mandatory collection unit includes bulky waste with your regular garbage, plus a separate scheduled pickup of bulky waste, white goods and E-waste on…
Lee County's code sets no permit or standard for a backyard smoker. Its only outdoor-fire rule is the drought emergency burn ban, and that ban names campfires, bonfires and trash…
Lee County's code does not set a separate rule for backyard gas or charcoal grills. What it does regulate is fire during a declared drought emergency, fires in county parks, and…
Lee County's sign code has a specific garage-sale category. No permit is needed as long as the sign goes up no more than 24 hours before the sale and comes down within 72 hours of the…
On your own property in unincorporated Lee County you may put up political or campaign signs of up to four square feet without a permit. Signs may go up no earlier than 60 days before…
Table 34-695 caps lot coverage at 40 percent in the RS-1 through RS-5 single-family districts and TFC-2, at 45 percent in RSC-1, RSA, TFC-1 and TF-1, and at just 25 percent in RSC-2.
Table 34-695 in Lee County's Land Development Code sets minimum yards for one- and two-family districts. Side yards run from 5 to 15 feet by district, rear yards are 20 feet in most…
Table 34-695 sets a 35-foot maximum height across every one- and two-family residential district. Section 34-2175 overrides that in special areas: 33 feet on Greater Pine Island, and…
On unincorporated Gulf of Mexico beaches, Lee County's sea turtle division bars artificial light from directly or indirectly illuminating nesting habitat during nesting season, defined…
Lee County does regulate light spilling off your lot. Outdoor lighting may not exceed 0.5 footcandle at the property line, or 0.2 footcandle ten feet inside adjacent residential…
These unincorporated areas are also governed by Lee County ordinances.