Space Coast · County guide
Permit Expediting in Brevard County
Brevard does not publish one design wind speed. It publishes GIS maps by risk category and expects you to look up the address — which means a wind load carried over from the last job on the same street can still be wrong.
What Brevard County does its own way
Brevard runs 70 miles of Atlantic and Indian River Lagoon frontage, sixteen municipalities and a barrier island under state critical-concern designation. The permitting consequences are specific, and most of them come down to exactly where the parcel sits.
Wind speed is address-specific, not a county number
The county does not publish a single design wind speed. It directs applicants to GIS maps organised by the four risk categories and expects a site-specific address lookup. Carrying a wind load across from a nearby project is a common source of structural review comments here.
Barrier Island Area of Critical State Concern
Brevard's Planning and Development Department maintains a distinct Barrier Island Area of Critical State Concern planning function covering the beachside and Merritt Island communities. Work in that area picks up review that inland Brevard projects never see.
Homeowners cannot apply online
Licensed, county-registered contractors can submit and track permits through BASS, the county's Accela-based system. Owner-builders must apply in person — online access for homeowners is generally limited to scheduling inspections and searching records.
Marine construction is its own permit category
Both the residential and commercial permit-type lists carry Marine Construction as a standalone category, reflecting the county's Indian River Lagoon and Atlantic frontage. Docks, seawalls and shoreline structures do not ride along on a building permit.
Expedited paths exist for emergencies and workforce housing
County Code Chapter 62, Article XVII provides expedited permitting procedures during declared states of emergency and for affordable and workforce housing projects. Worth knowing before you accept a standard queue position.
Who reviews your permit in Brevard County
Sixteen municipalities, several of them small beachside towns. West Melbourne is confirmed to run its own department; for the rest we confirm the controlling authority parcel by parcel before preparing a submittal.
| Jurisdiction | Notes |
|---|---|
| City of West Melbourne | Confirmed independent Building Department under its own Building Official |
| City of Melbourne | — |
| City of Palm Bay | — |
| City of Titusville | — |
| City of Cocoa | — |
| City of Cocoa Beach | — |
| City of Cape Canaveral | — |
| City of Rockledge | — |
| City of Satellite Beach | — |
| City of Indian Harbour Beach | — |
| Town of Indialantic | — |
| Town of Melbourne Beach | — |
| Town of Melbourne Village | — |
| Town of Malabar | — |
| Town of Grant-Valkaria | — |
Filing with Brevard County Planning and Development Department
Unincorporated Brevard County submittals go through BASS — Brevard's Advanced Service Site, an Accela Citizen Access system.
On a Brevard filing we pull the wind speed for the specific address off the county's risk-category maps rather than reusing a nearby figure, confirm whether the parcel falls inside the Barrier Island critical-concern area, and check whether the scope is actually a marine construction permit rather than a building permit. Contractor registration with the county has to be current before BASS will accept anything.
Contractor registration in Brevard County
Brevard references a state-certified contractor registration process and maintains its own licensed contractor search, separate from simply holding a DBPR licence. Registration has to be live before the BASS portal will let a contractor submit.
Whatever the jurisdiction, the work itself is the same set of services: see the full list of permitting services, or start with permit facilitation and filing if the permit simply needs to get filed and driven to issuance.
Department procedures, fee schedules and review timelines in Brevard County change, and municipal requirements change independently of the county's. Everything above reflects published guidance and our own filing experience as of this writing, and should be confirmed with the authority having jurisdiction for your specific project. If you need the current position on a specific question, call us — we will find out rather than guess.
Permitting in Brevard County — common questions
What wind speed applies to my Brevard County project?
It depends on the exact address and the building's risk category. Brevard publishes GIS wind speed maps by risk category rather than a single county figure, so it has to be looked up per parcel. We pull it before the structural work is drawn.
Can I apply for a Brevard County permit online as a homeowner?
Generally no. BASS is set up for licensed, county-registered contractors to submit and track permits. Owner-builders are directed to apply in person, with online access limited mainly to inspection scheduling and record search.
Do I need a separate permit for a dock or seawall in Brevard County?
Marine Construction is a standalone permit category in Brevard on both the residential and commercial lists. It does not ride along on a building permit, and on lagoon or Atlantic frontage there are usually outside-agency approvals to sequence as well.
Is my Brevard property in the Barrier Island Area of Critical State Concern?
If it is on the beachside or Merritt Island, quite possibly. The county maintains a distinct planning function for that area and work there picks up review inland projects do not. We confirm the designation before design, not at submittal.
What we file most in Brevard County
Permit Facilitation & Filing
You have a crew scheduled, a client asking for dates, and a permit sitting somewhere in a queue you cannot see. We file it, we track it, and we push i…
Learn morePlan Review Coordination
A permit in plan review is not one queue. On a commercial project it can be six queues, each with its own reviewer, its own comments and its own idea …
Learn moreOwner-Builder Permits
Florida law lets a property owner pull a permit for work on their own property without a contractor's license — under specific conditions, with real o…
Learn moreAfter-the-Fact & Expired Permits
Work done without a permit. A permit that expired before final inspection. A permit an old contractor opened and walked away from. These are all fixab…
Learn moreGet a free quote for Brevard County
Tell us the address and what is happening. We will tell you which jurisdiction controls it and what it takes.
Ready to get your permit moving?
One call tells you which jurisdiction controls your project, what it will take, and what it will cost. Most of the time we can scope it on the phone.