Building permits, zoning and land rules in Flagler County, Florida

Yes. Unincorporated Flagler County requires building permits, plan review and required inspections^1,2. The county administers the Florida Building Code Eighth (2023) Edition and the 2020 National Electrical Code². Qualifying work on an owner's single-family home valued below $7,500 may receive an owner-builder exemption, but flood-hazard property and electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical or gas work are excluded¹. The owner must occupy the home and may not sell or lease it for one year after the permit closes; the request also requires written scope and cost documentation¹. The exemption does not waive the building code or local ordinances, so ask Central Permitting for a determination before work begins¹.

Flagler County's building permits run through Central Permitting at 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Building 2, Suite 103, Bunnell, FL 32110, phone (386) 313-4003, email centralpermitting@flaglercounty.gov¹. The lobby is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m¹.. Central Permitting provides the forms for construction projects and routes land-development and right-of-way applications to the reviewing divisions; the page offers an online permit portal and submittal guide¹. Development Engineering reviews and inspects plats, site plans and building permit applications for compliance with county, state and federal rules¹³. The Central Permitting page links a Growth Management fee schedule, a Comprehensive Impact Fee Ordinance and an impact fee schedule labeled through March 2025, but it does not list every amount, so ask Central Permitting for the current total on your project¹. Planning and Zoning separately handles zoning, subdivision plats and flood-zone determinations¹⁴.

Flagler County's zoning districts apply to unincorporated land only³. Inside Flagler Beach¹⁵, Bunnell¹⁶ and the Town of Beverly Beach¹⁷, the municipality sets zoning from its own code; Palm Coast and the Town of Marineland also set their own, so a parcel that returns no county district is probably inside one of the five³. We could not confirm who issues building permits inside those municipalities, so ask the city or town hall; septic permits still come from the county health department⁴. For unincorporated parcels, the county publishes conservation, agriculture, residential, mobile-home, office, mixed-use, commercial and industrial districts, and each district document covers permitted uses and requirements such as setbacks³. Minimum lot size and building height also depend on the district, so read that district's document before planning the house³. The R/C residential/limited commercial district allows short-term vacation rentals by right, but that does not establish permission in another district¹⁸. Planning and Zoning provides flood-zone determinations for site plans and building permits and processes subdivision plats¹⁴.

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has implemented the state's septic rules since July 1, 2021, but the county health department offices continue to do septic-tank permitting and inspection, so the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County is the office to call⁴. A construction application requires the application form, site plan, building floor plan, fee and a qualified-professional site evaluation¹⁹. Owners, or contractors with the owner's authorization, may hire a private provider to inspect an onsite system, though the health department's page does not say every system needs an inspection in every case⁴. Operating permits are required for aerobic treatment units, performance-based treatment systems, commercial systems, and systems on industrial or manufacturing-zoned land⁴. None of Flagler County's mapped soil area rates free of severe limits for a conventional drain field, so complete the site evaluation before fixing the house location or system design^5,19.

We could not confirm that unincorporated Flagler County allows long-term RV living or temporary private-land camping; ask Planning and Zoning about the parcel's district before buying^3,14. Florida's rules for permitted RV parks and recreational camps do not establish permission to occupy an RV on private land outside those facilities²⁰. Tiny houses are a listed use only in the county's Planned Affordable Development (PAD) district, after the project meets Land Development Code section 3.04.00, so a tiny home on an ordinary rural parcel needs a zoning answer from Planning and Zoning first^14,21. Minimum living area is set district by district: 750 square feet in R-1¹¹, 1,000 square feet in R-1b¹², 700 square feet in R-1c and R-1d^9,10, and 600 square feet for either a house or a mobile home in MH-1 and in the AC-2 agriculture/forestry district^7,8. A manufactured home is a separate category: Florida requires compliant installation and an onsite inspection before a certificate of occupancy, while local zoning, setbacks and site-development rules still apply⁶. Unincorporated Flagler County publishes mobile-home zoning districts, but the applicable district document controls the parcel's permitted uses and setbacks³.

1. Determine whether the parcel is unincorporated or inside Palm Coast, Bunnell, Flagler Beach, Marineland or Beverly Beach, because the municipalities set their own zoning³.
2. For unincorporated land, confirm the zoning district, permitted use, setbacks and flood zone with Planning and Zoning before finalizing the site plan^3,14.
3. If sewer is unavailable, submit the septic application, site plan, floor plan, fee and site evaluation through Flagler County Environmental Health^4,19.
4. Submit construction, land-development and right-of-way applications through Central Permitting, and confirm the current fees¹.
5. Complete the required building inspections for an unincorporated-county project^2,13.
6. If the site is in a floodplain, obtain the required floodplain-development permit and use a licensed contractor²².

Start with jurisdiction: county zoning controls unincorporated parcels, while Palm Coast, Bunnell, Flagler Beach, Marineland and Beverly Beach set their own rules³. For unincorporated land, verify the district's permitted uses and setbacks, and ask Planning and Zoning for the flood-zone determination used in site-plan and building-permit review^3,14. Get the septic site evaluation early because none of the county's mapped soil area rates free of severe limits for a conventional drain field^5,23. Confirm whether water service is available or a permitted well will be needed; drinking-water well construction, repair and abandonment in Flagler County are handled under delegated state permitting authority²⁴. Access from a county road to a residence needs a right-of-way utilization permit for permanent access; a temporary driveway permit lasts one year and can be extended once for an acceptable reason, and the permanent permit is needed before the temporary one ends²⁵. If the purchase involves dividing land, Planning and Zoning processes subdivision plats for county commission review¹⁴.