Gulfport, FL Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Sec. 13 was written, in the city's own words, because Gulfport's traditional pedestrian-friendly downtown faces taller buildings, a departure from traditional architectural styles, and the need to elevate structures for FEMA flood compliance. Subsection (b) applies the standards to all residential structures in the conservation overlay district and to all multi-story structures in the waterfront redevelopment district (WRD). The multi-story rules in subsection (f) cap a multi-story building's ground floor footprint at five thousand square feet and require the ground floor to keep an active pedestrian streetscape through showcase windows, awnings, outdoor seating or display areas along the primary street front.

To reduce the visual impact of buildings taller and wider than their surroundings, subsection (f)(3) requires new multi-story commercial and mixed-use structures to include at least two design features from a list that covers vertical modulation, dividing the facade into sections at least four feet wide with depth differences of at least two feet, horizontal modulation, stepping upper stories back at least five feet from the ground floor, and a two-hundred-twenty-five-square-foot open space fronting the sidewalk. A developer who meets the optional multi-story standards in subsection (h), including a thirty-foot height cap and a facade width no wider than the block's average, is exempted from article VI's off-street parking requirements entirely.