ADU Pass
Bay County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Bay County, Florida navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 5 cities and 16 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Bay County regulates accessory dwelling units on unincorporated parcels through the Bay County Land Development Regulations (LDR), administered by the Bay County Planning and Zoning Division. Bay is a Florida Panhandle county on the Gulf of Mexico, home to Panama City, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven, Callaway, Parker, Mexico Beach, and Springfield. The county was ground zero for Hurricane Michael (Oct 2018), which made landfall at Mexico Beach / Tyndall AFB as a Category 5 hurricane and produced catastrophic damage across Bay and neighboring counties. Rebuilding activity remains substantial as of April 2026 — many parcels are still in post-Michael reconstruction. § 163.31771 FS is permissive only; Bay's ADU rules are local.
Code citations:
State-floor overlay: No Florida statewide ADU preemption floor exists as of April 2026. SB 48 / HB 313 (2026 session) is the active preemption bill. Bay retains full discretion until enactment.
Adopting body: Bay County Board of County Commissioners
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Permits for ADUs on unincorporated Bay County parcels are issued by the Bay County Planning and Zoning Division. Incorporated municipalities — Panama City, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven, Callaway, Parker, Mexico Beach, Springfield — each handle their own permits. Unincorporated Bay includes large tracts of the St. Andrews peninsula, the rural east and north, and the Sand Hills region.
Process overview: A Bay County ADU permit is a combined zoning/building review: (1) zoning verification; (2) submission of site plan and construction drawings via EnerGov; (3) planning review including flood-zone, CCCL, and wetland checks; (4) building-code plan review against the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) with post-Michael hardened wind-load provisions for the Panhandle; (5) septic review by Florida DOH in Bay County for parcels outside central sewer; (6) issuance, inspections, CO. Post-Michael reconstruction volume extends typical permit timelines.
Impact fees: Bay County assesses transportation, parks, and fire impact fees. Post-Michael rebuilding permits have historically received fee waivers under disaster-recovery emergency ordinances; fresh ADU additions are assessed at full rates. (schedule)
County assessor
The Bay County Property Appraiser maintains parcel-level assessment records for all real property in Bay County, including parcels within the incorporated cities. ADU additions are assessed as improvements to the host parcel. Florida's Save Our Homes 3% cap applies to the primary dwelling; improvements are added at full just value in the completion year. § 193.703 FS 'granny-flat' 20% assessment reduction is available.
Assessment policy: Permit data flows from Planning and Zoning to the Property Appraiser. Post-Michael, the Property Appraiser implemented a disaster-reassessment program for destroyed and damaged parcels; standard assessment resumed on a parcel-by-parcel basis as rebuilds certified completion.
County overlays (6)
Bay County administers flood, coastal, CHHA, and military-base AICUZ overlays. Gulf-front and St. Andrews Bay-adjacent parcels face extensive AE/VE flood mapping and CCCL exposure; Tyndall Air Force Base (east of Panama City) produces federal AICUZ overlays. Post-Michael, Bay adopted enhanced wind-load and elevation standards under an updated FBC Panhandle amendment.
- FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — AE and VE zones are extensive along the Gulf coast, St. Andrews Bay, West Bay, North Bay, and East Bay. ADUs in SFHA require elevation, flood vents, and flood-resistant materials; VE zones require pile-foundation construction. Post-Michael, FEMA revised flood-zone boundaries across Bay and the county adopted 1-2 feet of freeboard above BFE.
- Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA) — Coastal Bay parcels fall within CHHA and face heightened comprehensive-plan review on intensification of residential use.
- Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) — Gulf-front Bay parcels seaward of the CCCL require state DEP permit in addition to county approval.
- Tyndall Air Force Base AICUZ — Air Installation Compatible Use Zones around Tyndall AFB restrict residential intensification in mapped APZ areas and require noise-attenuation construction in noise zones. Affects east-Bay parcels; ADUs in APZ areas may be prohibited.
- Northwest Florida Water Management District (NWFWMD) Wellhead Protection — Parcels within mapped wellhead-protection zones face enhanced septic-siting review.
- Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) — Bay's extensive pine-flatwood and longleaf-pine forests abutting residential development produce meaningful WUI exposure. Post-Michael, many damaged forest tracts entered a prolonged regrowth phase with elevated fuel loads that raise practical wildfire risk beyond typical coastal-Florida baselines.
Known county issues (2)
- policy-review — Pending Florida SB 48 / HB 313 (2026 session) — if enacted, Bay County and its seven incorporated municipalities face a December 1, 2026 local ordinance compliance deadline for statewide by-right ADU allowance in single-family zones. Refresh within 30 days of enactment.
- staffing-shortage — Post-Hurricane Michael (Oct 2018) rebuilding volume continues to affect Bay County Planning and Zoning review capacity more than seven years later. Mexico Beach and portions of Panama City remain in partial reconstruction. Citizens Property Insurance Panhandle underwriting post-Michael remains tight, and the 10% hurricane deductible cap is a material carrying-cost consideration for new ADU construction.
Florida state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Florida does NOT currently have a statewide ADU preemption law in effect. Florida Statutes § 163.31771 (enacted 2004, last amended 2020) is permissive — it authorizes local governments to adopt ADU ordinances but does not require them to. ADU rules are therefore set municipality-by-municipality: Miami-Dade, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and a growing set of Florida cities have their own ordinances; many smaller counties and cities still prohibit or restrict ADUs by default. A preemption bill (SB 48 / HB 313) is pending in the 2026 legislative session and is likely to pass given that its 2025 predecessor cleared the Senate 37-0 and House 97-10 before dying on a procedural amendment dispute.
- Florida Statutes § 163.31771 — Accessory dwelling units — Permissive (not mandatory) statute. Defines an ADU as 'an ancillary or secondary living unit, that has a separate kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area, existing either within the same structure, or on the same lot, as the primary dwelling unit.' Authorizes — but does not require — local governments to adopt ordinances allowing ADUs in single-family residential zones. Contains no size caps, no owner-occupancy rules, no HOA preemption. All substantive rulemaking is local.
State financing programs
Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) does not operate an ADU-specific state loan or grant program. FHFC's primary affordable-housing lever at the ADU tier is the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), which distributes state documentary-stamp-tax revenue to all 67 counties and 52 entitlement cities for locally-administered housing programs — some of which may fund ADU construction at the local level (notably Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program, run through the Orange County Housing Finance Trust). FHFC's FL Assist down-payment programs and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage conventional loans apply to ADU-eligible primary residences but do not single out ADUs. Proposed CS/SB 1440 would create a state property-tax exemption of up to 100% of assessed value for an ADU rented at affordable rates.
State housing programs
Florida does not currently operate a statewide pre-approved ADU plan catalog (unlike California or Washington). State-level ADU implementation is driven by (a) the permissive § 163.31771 which lets willing jurisdictions adopt ordinances, (b) SHIP pass-through funding to local ADU programs (Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program is the model), and (c) the affordable-housing property-tax exemption under the Live Local Act (SB 102 / SB 328). The Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) — now reorganized as the Department of Commerce — provides technical assistance to local governments but no statewide ADU-specific mandate or program. Major counties (Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Broward) have published their own ADU ordinances and guidance documents.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.