ADU Pass
Port Saint Joe
Gulf County portion
Also in: No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Port Saint Joe, Gulf 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
Port Saint Joe is a Gulf coast town and the seat of Gulf County; ADU permitting follows City of Port Saint Joe code with FDEP CCCL coordination on coastal parcels.
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 Port Saint Joe 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: City of Port Saint Joe Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: City of Port Saint Joe Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Duke Energy Florida / Talquin Electric Cooperative / FPL (varies) · 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:
- Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC)
- State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP)
- Gulf County SHIP / HOME assistance
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Florida has no HOA-ADU preemption; HOA covenants restricting ADUs are enforceable.
Regulatory overlays (2)
- flood-zone
Gulf-facing parcels in CCCL and FEMA VE; bay-side and inland in AE pockets. - hurricane-zone
Florida panhandle 150 mph design wind speed; post-Hurricane Michael (2018) reconstruction overlay still in force in places.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of Port Saint Joe Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2018-01-01, last amended 2024-01-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Port Saint Joe ordinance refresh (city-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 (3)
- issue —
- issue —
- issue —
Gulf County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Gulf County (county seat Port St. Joe, on the panhandle Gulf coast) is a small Florida county (population approximately 15,000) with a distinctive land-use profile: extensive timber and conservation lands owned by the St. Joe Company and successors, a small coastal population concentrated at Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas, and significant post-Hurricane Michael (October 2018) rebuilding pressure. Gulf County regulates accessory dwelling units on unincorporated parcels through the Gulf County Land Development Code. 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; Gulf's ordinance would need audit against the final statutory text if enacted (December 1, 2026 deadline in current drafts). As a small county with limited planning staff, Gulf may need assistance meeting the conformance deadline.
County regulatory overlays
Gulf County's overlay portfolio is dominated by extreme coastal exposure. Hurricane Michael (October 2018, landfall as Category 5 at Mexico Beach on the Bay County line immediately west of Gulf County) produced catastrophic damage across the county; Hurricane Helene (2024) and other events added pressure. FEMA VE and Coastal A zones cover extensive coastal territory; post-Michael map revisions raised base flood elevations. Conservation lands (Tate's Hell State Forest, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Apalachicola National Forest) cover significant territory and impose additional land-use review.
- FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — Coastal A, VE, AE zones — Gulf participates in NFIP. Coastal parcels on Cape San Blas, the St. Joseph Peninsula, along the St. Joseph Bay shoreline, and in Port St. Joe face Zone VE or Coastal A designations. Post-Hurricane Michael (2018) map revisions raised base flood elevations substantially in many areas. ADU construction in Zone VE requires pile/column foundations, breakaway walls, flow-through venting, and materially elevated construction costs.
- Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) — Parcels seaward of the CCCL on Cape San Blas and the St. Joseph Peninsula require FDEP CCCL permits in addition to county permits. Erosion-rate mapping on Cape San Blas is particularly aggressive; some parcels face CCCL-imposed foundation setbacks that make ADU siting infeasible.
- Northwest Florida Water Management District Environmental Resource Permits — Most of Gulf sits within NWFWMD jurisdiction. ADU site work affecting wetlands, adding impervious surface thresholds, or altering stormwater requires an ERP. The Apalachicola River floodplain along the eastern county boundary is a particularly sensitive watershed.
- Hurricane Wind Zone — approximately 140-150 mph ultimate design wind speed (Gulf coast) — Gulf's coast sits in approximately the 140-150 mph ASCE 7-22 ultimate design wind-speed zone. Post-Michael (2018) the county's rebuilding inventory was largely constructed to updated wind-code standards, but older structures remain in the housing stock.
- St. Joseph Peninsula State Park and Conservation Lands — St. Joseph Peninsula State Park occupies the northern end of the peninsula; Cape San Blas is a mix of private coastal residential, state-conservation, and federal lands. ADUs on private parcels adjacent to conservation lands face additional habitat-compatibility review.
- St. Joe Company / former St. Joe timberlands conservation easements — Historical St. Joe Company timber holdings in Gulf County include areas under conservation easement; some private parcels adjacent to or within these holdings face deed restrictions that affect residential density and new-structure construction including ADUs.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Permits for ADUs on parcels in unincorporated Gulf County are issued by the Gulf County Building Department working with the Planning Department on zoning-compliance review. Gulf County has two incorporated municipalities (Port St. Joe, the county seat, and Wewahitchka, an inland town). Most of the county's coastal development along Cape San Blas and the St. Joseph Peninsula is unincorporated.
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
- 32456
Post Office
- 502 Garrison Ave, 32456