ADU Pass
Middleburg
Clay County portion
Also in: No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Middleburg, Clay County, Florida navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Florida partially preempts local ADU restrictions; cities retain authority over design and setbacks. Middleburg follows Clay County rules as an unincorporated community.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $2,400 | $29,250 | $31,650 |
| 600 | 600 | $2,400 | $117,000 | $119,400 |
| midpoint | 575 | $2,400 | $112,125 | $114,525 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $2,400 | $195,000 | $197,400 |
Fee breakdown
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law applies.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions Middleburg STR rules — check minimum-stay limits, registration, and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted; § 193.703 FS granny-flat assessment reduction available.
Utilities
- Water: Clay County Utility Authority (CCUA) · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Clay County Utility Authority (CCUA) / septic · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Clay Electric Cooperative · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Propane · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 16mo
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Florida has no HOA-ADU preemption; HOA covenants restricting ADUs are enforceable.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone
Black Creek AE-zone parcels; substantial portions of Middleburg flooded during Hurricane Irma (2017) and Tropical Storm Debby (2024); elevation requirements stringent. - rural-residential
Mix of unincorporated suburban and rural-residential parcels; lot-size mins favor accessory dwellings on larger lots.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Clay County Code of Ordinances — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2018-01-01, last amended 2024-01-01
- 2024-01-01 — Clay County unincorporated ADU code refresh (county-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current Florida accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Known issues (1)
- issue —
Clay County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Clay County (county seat Green Cove Springs; largest population center Orange Park, immediately southwest of Jacksonville) regulates accessory dwelling units on unincorporated parcels through the Clay County Land Development Code (LDC). Clay is a suburban-growth county in the Jacksonville metropolitan statistical area with a population of approximately 230,000. The LDC permits accessory dwelling units in most residential zoning districts as accessory structures or guest houses, subject to lot-size and setback conditions; in some districts rental is limited by owner-occupancy provisions. Florida has no statewide ADU preemption; § 163.31771 FS is permissive only. Pending SB 48 / HB 313 (2026 session) would establish a statewide ADU floor with a December 1, 2026 conformance deadline if enacted.
State-floor overlay: Florida has no statewide ADU preemption as of April 2026. § 163.31771 FS is permissive only. Pending 2026 bills (SB 48 / HB 313) would impose a statewide floor; Clay's ordinance would need audit against the final statutory text if enacted (December 1, 2026 deadline in current drafts).
County regulatory overlays
Clay County administers floodplain, wetland, and St. Johns River corridor overlays. Clay does not have Atlantic-Gulf coastline but has extensive St. Johns River and Black Creek frontage. St. Johns River Water Management District jurisdiction covers the county's wetland and stormwater permitting. Camp Blanding Joint Training Center (Florida Army National Guard) occupies significant territory in southern Clay and imposes airspace/noise-compatibility considerations on nearby parcels.
- FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — Clay participates in the NFIP. Parcels along the St. Johns River, Black Creek, Peters Creek, and Doctors Lake corridors face Zone A or AE designations. ADU construction in a mapped floodplain requires elevation-certificate review. Hurricane Irma (2017) produced significant Black Creek flooding that informed post-event map updates; Hurricane Ian (2022) produced additional flood impact.
- St. Johns River Water Management District Environmental Resource Permits — Clay sits within SJRWMD jurisdiction. ADU site work affecting jurisdictional wetlands, adding a threshold area of impervious surface, or altering stormwater flow requires SJRWMD ERP. Clay's high water table and extensive wetland features on rural parcels make wetland delineation a common pre-construction requirement.
- Hurricane Wind Zone — approximately 130-140 mph ultimate design wind speed — Clay sits in approximately the 130-140 mph ASCE 7-22 ultimate design wind-speed zone (Risk Category II residential). Inland relative to Atlantic/Gulf coastal counties but still requiring hurricane-rated construction details.
- Camp Blanding Joint Training Center — airspace and noise compatibility — Camp Blanding (Florida Army National Guard) occupies much of southern Clay. Parcels within the noise-compatibility and accident-potential zones face additional review and, in some sub-zones, restrictions on residential density and occupancy types. An ADU on an affected parcel may require military-compatibility review.
- Jennings State Forest and Conservation Lands — Jennings State Forest and related conservation lands occupy portions of northwestern Clay. Parcels adjacent to these lands face additional habitat-compatibility review and, for parcels inside Habitat Conservation Plan areas, species-protection requirements (gopher tortoise, red-cockaded woodpecker in some pine-flatwoods areas).
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Permits for ADUs on parcels in unincorporated Clay County are issued by the Clay County Building Department, working with the Department of Planning & Zoning on zoning-compliance review. Clay County has five incorporated municipalities (Green Cove Springs, Orange Park, Keystone Heights, Penney Farms, Lake Asbury in process). Unincorporated Clay contains large suburban and semi-rural areas including Fleming Island, Oakleaf, Middleburg, Lake Asbury, and Doctors Inlet.
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.
ZIP Code
- 32068
Post Office
- 2073 Palmetto St, 32068