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

City Code section 20-136 directs the city council to adopt architectural guidelines by resolution for the Melbourne Downtown Community Redevelopment Area and the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront Community Redevelopment Area. Those guidelines, titled the Downtown Melbourne and Olde Eau Gallie District Architectural Guidelines, must stay consistent with the comprehensive plan, land development regulations and the area redevelopment plan, and the council can revise them by resolution, most recently under Ordinance No. 2025-10 adopted February 25, 2025, rather than through a full ordinance amendment. Per subsection (a)(2), the guidelines must address new construction, at minimum covering roofline, facade, exterior details, storefronts and building lighting, and must set renovation requirements for facade, walls, storefronts, building color, windows, signs, outdoor displays and awnings.

The historic and architectural review board applies the guidelines whenever it decides an application for a certificate of architectural appropriateness under section 20-135, which is required before any material exterior change, new construction or new signage within a redevelopment district, and before any mural permit anywhere in the city. Applications go through the community development department under section 20-133, and staff can require sketches, drawings, photographs or other detail sufficient to show the proposed exterior design before and after the work. The board may deny an application only by an affirmative vote of a majority of members present, with at least four members needed for an official action under section 20-135(h).

A denied applicant may appeal to city council within 30 days of the board's written ruling under section 20-137, and the appeal is limited to reviewing the existing record, not a new hearing, testing whether the board followed due process and the essential requirements of law.