City of Panama City Beach introduces Single Family Stormwater Requirements
In September of 2023, the City of Panama City Beach updated its Land Development Code (LDC) to now require stormwater designs and inspections to obtain a building permit and certificate of occupancy. These requirements are becoming quite popular in the developed areas of the panhandle. Municipalities like Walton County and City of Destin have adopted similar requirements as development of relatively old vacant parcels and redevelopment of improved parcels is becoming more common. The parcels that this code change affects is those that lie outside of a planned development such as Palmetto Trace or are in a platted subdivision that was platted generally before the mid 1990’s. These parcels are not serviced by a stormwater system that you see in newer developments, and therefore are considered to cause drainage issues especially when a high volume are done.
These requirements generally require either a very shallow pond (6” to 1’ in depth sometimes called a swale) or an underground exfiltration system similar to the drainfield of a septic system. These systems are required in PCB to address water quantity only at this time. Most other areas also require water quality too. This could be added in the future. The water quantity design requirements in the LDC are to attenuate the 100-year critical duration storm on site. This means that the volume or rate of runoff from the 100-year rain event from your property after development cannot be greater than the undeveloped or currently developed condition. The currently developed condition would only apply to those properties where there is existing buildings, driveways, or other impervious areas present onsite.
Additionally, a ditch of at least 6 inches in depth must be placed along the property line adjacent to the road and all runoff from the property must be directed to it. This grading requirement is usually done in combination with the previously discussed retention system.
Lastly, the system and grading must be inspected by BGS near the completion of construction and a letter issued stating that it was constructed per the design plans. If we specified an underground system photographs should be taken by the contractor during the underground construction so that BGS can certify the system. BGS will inspect at grade inlets, gutter tie ins, and grading near the completion of construction
BGS has been providing these similar services to many owners and architects in South Walton for the past 3 years and we hope we can be of service to your project in Panama City Beach. If you have questions about whether you are subject to these requirements or if you have been told you need this design, then please see our contact us page and fill out the request form.
