Multi-Agency Integrated Code for Coastal Construction

Abstract

The population growth in the State of Florida has created an increase in development along the shoreline in recent years. Owners have to comply with building and zoning codes, manuals, local standards, and other guidelines to obtain coastal construction permit. These guidelines were prepared by either federal, regional, or state agencies. Also, local governments (counties and municipalities) promulgate their own provisions. With the proliferation of guidelines, several regulating agencies often hold jurisdiction on a coastal construction project. Thus, several guidelines are applicable and must be satisfied. In these situations the designer must follow the most stringent of those standards, turning the design process into a difficult and time consuming task. The integrated coastal code developed in this study is a guide of minimum standards of coastal construct ion developed by integrating the most stringent guidelines from several coastal agencies in Florida. The selected counties are from around the State with coasts on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. General guidelines for major and minor shore protect ion structures and mobile homes are part of the code which is subdivided into sections such as wind design, wave forces design, flood protection and erosion control. A user-friendly menu -driven software was also developed containing the developed integrated coastal construction code.