Jacksonville — city ADU rules and incentives

ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions

Statewith-restrictions (Florida accessory-dwelling framework)

Countyallowed (Duval County unincorporated zoning)

Cityallowed (City of Jacksonville Municipal / Zoning Code — Accessory Dwelling Units)

Florida partially preempts local ADU restrictions; cities retain authority over design and setbacks. Jacksonville permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.

City cost envelope

$57,600 all-in for a 575 sqft ADU (permit + build). Midpoint scenario.

Permit fee bundle: $2,400.

City viability (selected uses)

Long-term rentalyes

Short-term rentalwith-restrictions

Home officeyes

Relative supportyes

Duval County — county ADU rules and overlays

County ADU ordinance

Duval County is consolidated with the City of Jacksonville under the Jacksonville consolidated city-county government adopted by referendum in 1967 (Chapter 67-1320, Laws of Florida). Jacksonville's jurisdiction covers essentially all of Duval County except four small independent incorporated beach towns (Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Baldwin) that retained separate municipal governments at consolidation. As a practical matter, there is NO separately-governed unincorporated Duval County — zoning, building, assessment, and overlay administration are all performed by the City of Jacksonville's departments for 98%+ of Duval parcels. ADU allowance flows from Jacksonville's Zoning Code (Chapter 656 of the Ordinance Code) and the Unified Development Code / Land Development Procedures Manual. § 163.31771 FS is permissive only.

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. Duval/Jacksonville retains full discretion until enactment.

County regulatory overlays

Duval/Jacksonville administers flood, coastal, JAX airport-approach, military-base AICUZ, historic-district, and tree-protection overlays. The St. Johns River bisects the consolidated city-county and produces extensive AE-zone flood mapping; Atlantic-front and Intracoastal parcels carry VE/AE exposure; Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport generate federal AICUZ overlays.

FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — AE zones are extensive along the St. Johns River, its tributaries (Trout River, Arlington River, Ortega River), and the Intracoastal Waterway. VE zones affect the narrow Atlantic frontage at Mayport and along the beach-city boundaries. ADUs in SFHA require elevation, flood vents, and flood-resistant materials.
Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA) — Atlantic-adjacent Duval parcels fall within CHHA with heightened comprehensive-plan review on intensification of residential use.
Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS JAX) & Naval Station Mayport AICUZ — Air Installation Compatible Use Zones around NAS JAX (Ortega/Westside) and NAS Mayport (East Duval) restrict residential intensification in mapped APZ areas and require noise-attenuation construction in noise zones. ADUs in APZ-I or APZ-II may be prohibited; APZ noise zones add construction cost.
Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) Approach Zones — Parcels under JAX approach/transitional surfaces face height restrictions; a two-story ADU may require FAA Form 7460 notice.
Historic Districts (Springfield, Riverside, Avondale, San Marco, others) — Jacksonville maintains several locally-designated historic districts and is active with the State Historic Preservation Office. A detached ADU in a historic district requires Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) review by the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission in addition to the standard building permit.
Tree-Protection Overlay — Jacksonville's tree-protection ordinance applies city-wide. A tree-removal permit is required for any protected-species removal; ADU siting that necessitates protected-tree removal adds a permit step and potential mitigation cost.

County permitting (unincorporated parcels)

Permits for ADUs anywhere in Duval County outside the four independent beach municipalities are issued by the City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department (zoning review) and the Building Inspection Division (building review). Jacksonville operates the largest single-jurisdiction permitting office in Florida by land area (~875 square miles). The Unified Development Code governs the procedural path, and the Jacksonville ePermit / Citizen Access portal handles intake, review, and inspection scheduling.

DepartmentCity of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department / Building Inspection Division

Address214 North Hogan Street, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32202

Phone904-255-8500

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.

Arlington