Zoning, building permits and septic rules in the Town of Surfside, Florida

At a glance

Building permit

Required, issued by the town's building official¹

Zoning

Town of Surfside administers its own zoning code (Chapter 90)²

Building code

Florida Building Code, as amended by the town⁴

Septic

Permitted by the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County³

Flood rules

Floodplain ordinance applies to development in flood hazard areas⁵

Camping on residential property

Allowed only with the property owner's consent⁶

Owner-builder

Florida allows owners to act as their own contractor on a one- or two-family home for their own use⁷

Who to call

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on October 16, 2026.

Do you need a building permit in Surfside, Florida?

Yes. The Town of Surfside requires a building permit from the building official before any building is erected, constructed, altered, moved, converted, extended or enlarged¹. A permit is valid for 180 days, and the town manager or a designee may extend it by up to 180 more days when an act of nature caused the delay¹. Applications go on a written town form filed with the building official⁸. Surfside has adopted the Florida Building Code "as amended", and we did not review the town's local amendments⁴. Sheds, rear-yard pools, re-roofs, driveways and carports skip the planning and zoning board's design review, but they are not exempt from the permit itself⁸.

Who issues building permits in Surfside, and how do you reach them?

Inside town limits, the Town of Surfside Building Department issues building permits, not Miami-Dade County¹⁹. Call 305.861.4863 or visit Town Hall at 9293 Harding Avenue, Surfside, FL 33154⁹. The town's Planning Department, at the same number and address, handles zoning questions and board applications¹⁰. The county's Regulatory and Economic Resources office, which handles permits for unincorporated Miami-Dade County, is the wrong counter for a Surfside address¹¹.

Does Surfside have zoning, and what does it mean for RVs, tiny homes and setbacks?

Surfside administers its own zoning code, Chapter 90, and the building official checks every building permit or certificate of occupancy application against it². The code names these districts: H30A, H30B, H30C, H40, H120 and SD-B40¹². We did not open the district map or the dimensional schedule, so we could not confirm lot sizes, setbacks or minimum home sizes for any district; ask the Planning Department which district a parcel is in before you buy¹⁰. New single-family and two-family homes and major additions also go through planning and zoning board review¹. We could not confirm any rule on tiny homes or on living in an RV in Surfside. The town's camping ordinance only says camping on private residential property is allowed with the owner's consent⁶.

How do septic permits work in Surfside?

We could not confirm whether the Town of Surfside has its own septic rules, because the code sections we reviewed do not address them. Septic permits and inspections in Miami-Dade County are handled by the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, which Florida law makes the permitting authority for onsite sewage systems³¹³. Call 786-654-6620¹⁴. Whether a Surfside lot must connect to a public sewer, rather than install a septic tank, is not something we could confirm: ask the Building Department. Florida law requires an existing septic system to connect within 365 days after written notice that public sewer is available¹⁵. Miami-Dade County's soils matter too: USDA rates 0% of the county's soils as not limited for a conventional drain field¹⁶.

Building a home in Surfside: the steps, in order

1. Ask the Planning Department which zoning district the parcel is in and what it allows¹⁰. 2. Check whether the parcel is in a flood hazard area, because the town's floodplain ordinance applies to development there⁵. 3. Confirm sewer or septic with the Building Department and the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County¹⁴. 4. For a new single-family or two-family home, expect planning and zoning board design review with posted and mailed notice⁸. 5. File the written permit application with the building official and pay the fees¹. 6. Build to the Florida Building Code as amended by the town⁴. An owner may act as the owner's own contractor on a one- or two-family residence for the owner's own use⁷; the town's owner-builder process was not covered in what we reviewed, so ask the Building Department.

What stays with Miami-Dade County, and what to check before you buy in Surfside

Septic permits and inspections stay with the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County³. For land outside the town's limits, the county's unincorporated-area rules apply instead; see the Miami-Dade County page. Manufactured homes are restricted: new installations are not permitted in coastal high hazard areas (Zone V)¹⁷. Subdivision proposals in flood hazard areas must show the flood zones and design flood elevations on the plat¹⁸. Miami-Dade County's typical home insurance premium is about $7,089 a year¹⁹, and its effective property tax rate is 0.8%²⁰. Both figures are county-wide, not Surfside-specific.

Watch-outs

• Surfside's building permit, zoning and septic answers differ from unincorporated Miami-Dade County's, so do not use county permit pages for a Surfside address².
• We could not confirm Surfside's rules on tiny homes, RV living, lot sizes, setbacks or owner-builder permits; ask the Planning and Building Departments¹⁰.
• Camping on private residential land inside Surfside is prohibited without the owner's consent, with a penalty of up to $500 and 60 days in jail⁶.

Sources

1. Surfside Code Sec. 90-19 Single-family and two-family development review process (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
2. Surfside Code Sec. 90-19 Single-family and two-family development review process (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
3. Onsite Sewage Tanks and Disposal Systems, quoted and re-checked
4. Surfside Code Sec. 90-19 Single-family and two-family development review process (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
5. Surfside Code Sec. 42-1 Floods - General (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
6. Surfside Code Sec. 54-67 Camping prohibited (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
7. 2026 Florida Statutes § 489.103, Exemptions (Florida statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
8. Surfside Code Sec. 90-19 Single-family and two-family development review process (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
9. Town of Surfside Building Department (townofsurfsidefl.gov)
10. Town of Surfside Planning Department (townofsurfsidefl.gov)
11. How to Apply for Permits, quoted and re-checked
12. Surfside Code Sec. 90-25 Home-based and common-area based assembly uses (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
13. OSTDS Construction Application (Florida statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
14. Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (Onsite Sewage Tanks and Disposal Systems) (miamidade.floridahealth.gov)
15. flsenate.gov (Florida statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
16. Share of soils USDA rates "not limited" for a conventional septic drain field (SSURGO). A strict rating: the median county is about 6% and a tenth of counties are 0%, so a low figure means most lots need a site evaluation or an engineered system, not that septic is impossible. Cite it only with that caveat: Bolthole Index county data
17. Surfside Code Sec. 42-14 Manufactured homes (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
18. Surfside Code Sec. 42-12 Subdivisions (flood) (Town of Surfside), quoted and re-checked
19. Typical home insurance premium: Bolthole Index county data
20. Effective property tax rate: Bolthole Index county data

Written October 16, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.