Sarasota County, FL Outdoor Cooking: Outdoor Kitchen Permits (2026)

Sarasota County Code § 54-516(a)(11) governs outdoor kitchens, decks, patios and pool cages as "Accessory and Appurtenant Structures" within the county's Special Flood Hazard Areas and Community Flood Hazard Areas. These structures are not required to elevate their lowest floor to the Base Flood Elevation, but paragraph (a) conditions that relief on the structure being securely anchored to resist flotation or lateral movement and built of Flood Resistant Materials below the top of any vertical walls. If the outdoor kitchen is enclosed by walls, it must be limited to one story, no larger than 600 square feet, and equipped with flood openings meeting the one-square-inch-per-square-foot standard of § 54-516(a)(8) so hydrostatic pressure can equalize during flooding.

Any walled and roofed accessory structure housing the kitchen may be used only for parking and storage purposes and cannot be temperature controlled (§ 54-516(a)(11)(b)). Electrical and mechanical equipment serving the outdoor kitchen, such as built-in appliances or lighting circuits, must be elevated above the Base Flood Elevation and wired in accordance with § 54-516(a)(10), which limits enclosed low-elevation circuits to specific uses like a single 15- or 20-amp receptacle and requires ground-fault interrupter protection. Outdoor plumbing serving a sink or grill must be designed to keep floodwaters from infiltrating wastewater lines (§ 54-516(a)(11)(d)).

Because an outdoor kitchen is Development under Article XVI, it needs a permit under § 54-517 before construction, and the Floodplain Administrator confirms the design meets these flood-resistant construction and siting standards as part of that review.