Lower Keys seawall permits and risks.
From Key West to the Seven Mile Bridge.

Who issues a seawall permit in the Lower Keys?

Two governments issue seawall permits between Key West and the Seven Mile Bridge. The City of Key West permits work inside its city limits. Monroe County permits unincorporated land, which is everything else in this region. Key West Building Department County permit offices

The split is old. Key West was removed from the Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern in 1984 and made a separate one, while the county stayed in the original. FloridaCommerce Keys oversight report

Your mailing address will not settle it. The city’s floodplain page names Key Haven, Rockland Key and the south side of Stock Island as places with Key West addresses that sit outside the city. Key West floodplain page

Offices and filing rules: Key West Building Department Key West permit policy County permit offices County permit offices County permit offices County online permitting The county does not assign offices by area, so any county office can help.

Both governments expect state and federal approvals too. The county issues the permit but holds construction until a Notice to Proceed, which follows those approvals. Key West will not approve a dock until the applicant shows state and federal compliance. County Notice to Proceed handout Key West Code Sec. 110-186 The full stack is on the permits guide.

Lower Keys area guides compared

Each area guide covers one stretch of the Lower Keys. This table gives the permit office, the canal count from the county inventory and the one local fact most likely to change your plan.

How hurricane surge changed from island to island

Storm surge has not hit the Lower Keys evenly. In Irma, the dividing line ran through Cudjoe Key: 2 to 4 ft of inundation west of it, and 5 to 8 ft from Cudjoe east to Big Pine and Bahia Honda. Hurricane Center Irma report

Read the units before you compare. “Above ground” is water depth on land, “above MHHW” is height over the average higher high tide, and MSL is mean sea level. None of them is your cap height until a surveyor converts it.

Recent storms were smaller. Helene and Milton in 2024 each brought 1 to 2 ft of inundation to the Keys. Hurricane Center Helene report Hurricane Center Milton report The storm guide covers what to check after each one.

Oolite or reef rock: what your wall stands in

Most Lower Keys seawalls stand in oolite, not coral reef. USGS describes the lower Keys as Miami Limestone, old tidal bars of cemented ooids. The middle and upper Keys are Key Largo Limestone, a fossil reef. USGS Professional Paper 1751

The change happens inside this region. The reef rock last rises as islands at the Newfound Harbor Keys, and USGS maps it meeting oolite on the south parts of Ramrod and Torch Keys. USGS Professional Paper 1751 USGS Professional Paper 1751

• Key West to Sugarloaf: expect oolite, often under a hard crust. At the Saddlebunch Keys, USGS cored several inches of calcrete, some of the thickest crust it found in the Keys. USGS Professional Paper 1751
• South Ramrod and Torch: one neighborhood can sit on both rock types, with submerged reef and oolite forming the nearshore ledge. USGS Professional Paper 1751
• Canal walls: USGS notes that coral skeletons of the old reef can be seen today in the walls of man-made canals. USGS Professional Paper 1751

Ask for a probe or boring at your lot before anyone commits to driven sheet pile. Hard crust can change the method and the equipment. The seawall replacement guide explains how wall types differ.

Canal or open water: the seawall rules differ

The county’s biggest seawall rule depends on what your wall faces. On manmade canals, channels and basins, a new vertical seawall is allowed only to stop severe erosion that plants or riprap cannot fix. On open water, no new vertical seawall is allowed at all. Monroe County code Sec. 118-12

Existing walls get a different test. A lawfully existing, deteriorated wall may be repaired or replaced, keeping its footprint as far as practicable. Monroe County code Sec. 118-12

Inside Key West

The city goes further. Its code allows new shoreline hardening only when erosion is a critical peril and plantings have failed, makes riprap the first choice and says hardening should generally not be a vertical wall. Key West Code Sec. 110-182 Minor maintenance and emergency repair of existing structures are exempt from that article. Key West Code Sec. 110-192

Shorelines with extra rules

• Coupon Bight Aquatic Preserve, south of Big Pine: no new seawalls waterward of mean high water. A restored wall may sit no more than one foot waterward of its old line without a consent application. Rule 18-20.004, F.A.C. DEP Coupon Bight page
• Turtle nesting beaches: no seawall, riprap or other hardening on or waterward of the beach berm. Monroe County code Sec. 118-12
• V and Coastal A flood zones: a design professional must show the wall will not push floodwater or waves onto neighbors. Monroe County code Ch. 122

On open-water lots, plan around repair, replacement in place and riprap toe protection.

Canal restoration: public projects in your canal

Monroe County started its canal restoration program in 2014, after a study found 311 of 502 Keys canals below the state’s minimum water-quality criteria. County resiliency page Its master plan now ranks 96 canals in unincorporated Monroe as a 10-year work program. County canal restoration page

Restoration means culverts, backfilling, organic removal and air curtains, the four methods a 2018 FIU report found highly effective. County canal restoration requests It is water-quality work. It does not repair private seawalls, and its budgets are never seawall prices. County resiliency page

The 2021 draft ranking puts Lower Keys canals at both ends. Big Pine canal 255 ranked 3rd and Sugarloaf canal 402 ranked 5th, while Eden Pines canal 278 ranked 96th of 96. 2021 county canal ranking 2021 county canal ranking

Road elevation projects and your seawall cap

The county screened more than 311 miles of its roads, in 2,383 segments, for flooding through 2045, and picked the most critical quarter for adaptation. County critical roads list It drew concept plans for 83 projects and put 49 areas in its 2025 group. That year marks need, not a construction date. County road study

Areas in the 2025 group include:

• Stock Island: Maloney, Lincoln Gardens and nearby streets, 45,542 ft County road study
• Big Coppitt: Gulfrest Park, Johnsonville and Similar Sound, 21,737 ft County road study
• Geiger Key: Boca Chica Ocean Shores and nearby, 10,151 ft County road study
• Sugarloaf: Upper Sugarloaf on SR 939B and Sugarloaf Shores sections A-F County road study
• Summerland: area 42-A, top criticality score of 5.00 County road study
• Cudjoe: Cutthroat Harbor Estates area, 24,513 ft County road study
• Ramrod: Breezeswept Beach Estates, 24,200 ft County road study
• Little Torch: Jolly Roger Estates, 16,005 ft County road study
• Big Pine: the Sands, Eden Pines Colony, Doctor’s Arm and more County road study
• Key West: Eaton Street and Palm Avenue, and Flagler Avenue County road study

None of this sets a height for your wall. The county adopted sea-level projections of 10 to 17 inches by 2040, from a 2000 baseline, but its resiliency page sets no private seawall elevation. County resiliency page When the road beside you rises, ask your engineer for the road grade and your cap in the same datum, NAVD88.

After a Lower Keys storm: re-entry and repair clocks

Get your re-entry sticker before hurricane season. Lower Keys stickers (Zone 1, Seven Mile Bridge to Stock Island) are dark pink, and City of Key West stickers are white. Tax Collector offices issue them, and out-of-county owners qualify with a property tax bill. They stop once a state of emergency is declared. County re-entry stickers

• Seawall restoration: the state exempts rebuilding a seawall up to 18 inches waterward of its old line when a discrete event damaged it within the last year. Rule 62-330.051, F.A.C.
• Dock repair: the exemption covers a dock rebuilt no larger and within 5 feet of its old spot, if a storm put it out of use within the last year. Rule 62-330.051, F.A.C.
• Flood insurance: the standard flood policy lists seawalls, bulkheads and docks as property not insured. Federal flood policy (Dwelling Form)
• FEMA help: the 2024 declarations for Debby, Helene and Milton covered Monroe County for public assistance only, with no aid for households. OpenFEMA declarations

Canal cleanup can take years. After Irma, the county submitted 422 canals for federal debris removal; 247 were approved, and approvals were still arriving almost two years later. County NRCS debris paper Date-stamped photos of your wall before and after a storm help prove when damage happened. See the seawall insurance guide.