Overview
Code type
euclidean
Naming convention
Density-encoded multifamily: RM-5, RM-8, RM-11, RM-15 — the numeric suffix encodes maximum dwelling units per acre (5, 8, 11, 15 du/ac respectively). Single-family naming RS-2 / RS-3 is use-type-index style (lower number = larger lot: RS-2 = 10,000 sf min, RS-3 = 7,500 sf min; NOT inverse of RM density progression). Commercial districts: CG (General Commercial §158.124), CN (Neighborhood Convenience), CH (Highway Commercial), CS (Service Commercial), P (Professional §158.122). Mixed-use is Limited Mixed Use (LMD §158.155 — note: prior profile recorded this as 'LMU' which is a transcription error; the actual code abbreviation is LMD). Industrial: WI (Warehouse Industrial §158.135), IN (Industrial), with LI/HI also referenced in some city sources. GU (General Use §158.060) is a historical remnant of the 1984 Land Use Conversion Manual program. MPUD (Master Planned Unit Development §§158.186-158.192) is the project-specific PUD vehicle for Tradition / Riverland / St. Lucie West and other large master-planned communities — codified, not an overlay.
Hybrid: a Euclidean base ladder (RS/RM/CG/CH/CN/CS/P/WI/IN/LMD/GU) overlaid by a project-specific MPUD district (Article X.5) and a true form-based corridor overlay (Becker Road Overlay District / BROD, P18-024). Three structural quirks shape the code: (1) GDC legacy: PSL is one of the largest post-1960 master-planned cities in the U.S. — hundreds of thousands of quarter-acre platted lots — driving a RS-2/RS-3 dominated zoning map and GU's role as a conversion pathway; (2) RM-5/8/11/15 density-encoded multifamily is typical of FL Community Planning Act-era codes (post-1985); (3) BROD (2018) is a true Form-Based Code with build-to zones, transparency %, four Subdistricts, and explicit use prohibitions — NOT merely 'aesthetic guidance' as earlier characterized in v1 records. (4) MPUD §§158.186-158.192 is the actual codified vehicle for Tradition, Riverland, St. Lucie West and other DRI-scale master-planned communities — every project's density / mix / dimensional standards live in its adopted Regulation Book, not in base Ch. 158.
Districts
com 5res_mf 4res_sf 2industrial 2spec 1mu 1pud 1
| Code | Name | Category | Min lot | Height | Coverage | FAR | Du/ac | Parking | Setbacks F/S/R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS-2 | Single-Family Residential | res_sf | 10,000 sf[4] | — | — | — | — | — | 25[1] / 10[2] / 25[3] |
| RS-3 | Single-Family Residential | res_sf | 7,500 sf[8] | 35 ft[9] | — | — | — | — | 25[5] / 7.5[6] / 25[7] |
| RM-5 | Multiple-Family Residential — 5 du/ac | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 5[10] | — | — / — / — |
| RM-8 | Multiple-Family Residential — 8 du/ac | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 8[11] | — | — / — / — |
| RM-11 | Multiple-Family Residential — 11 du/ac | res_mf | 20,000 sf[15] | 35 ft[16] | — | — | 11[17] | — | 25[12] / 15[13] / 25[14] |
| RM-15 | Multiple-Family Residential — 15 du/ac | res_mf | — | — | — | — | 15[18] | — | — / — / — |
| GU | General Use | spec | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| CG | General Commercial | com | — | 35 ft[19] | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| CN | Neighborhood Convenience Commercial | com | — | 35 ft[20] | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| CH | Highway Commercial | com | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| CS | Commercial Service | com | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| LMD | Limited Mixed Use | mu | 20,000 sf[23] | 35 ft[24] | — | — | 11[25] | — | 25[21] / — / 10[22] |
| WI | Warehouse Industrial | industrial | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| IN | Industrial | industrial | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
| P | Professional | com | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25[26] / 10[27] / 10[28] |
| MPUD | Master Planned Unit Development | pud | — | — | — | — | — | — | — / — / — |
Confidence: confirmed partial under review not found
Overlays
BROD
Becker Road Overlay District
form_based_corridorFloodplain Overlay
Floodplain Overlay District
floodplainN/A
Historic Preservation Overlay
historic_preservationN/A
Transit-Oriented Development Overlay
todN/A
Downtown / CBD Overlay
downtownN/A
Environmental / Aquifer Protection Overlay
environmentalN/A
Airport Hazard / Part 77 Overlay
airportN/A
Affordable Housing Bonus Overlay
affordable_housing_bonusN/A
Military / AICUZ Overlay
military_aicuzState preemptions
Qualifying condition
Applies to all Florida municipalities including Port St. Lucie. Per-parcel qualifying trigger: site must be zoned commercial (CG, CN, CH, CS under Ch. 158) OR industrial (WI, IN) OR mixed-use (LMU) AND ≥40% of units affordable at or below 120% AMI for a 30-year minimum term. Port St. Lucie population (~284,000, 2024 Census estimate) places the city well above the 10,000-population threshold at which Live Local applies. As the eighth-largest city in Florida and a rapid-growth jurisdiction, LLA exposure is material.
Qualifying condition
Applies to all Florida municipalities. Per-parcel qualifying trigger: project funded through the State Apartment Incentive Loan (SAIL) program OR the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program. Port St. Lucie is an active SHIP community (city receives annual SHIP allocation from Florida Housing Finance Corporation). Applies to any parcel zoned residential, commercial, or industrial.
FL Short-Term Rental Preemptionapplies
Qualifying condition
Applies to all Florida municipalities. Port St. Lucie has no pre-June-2011 local ordinance banning short-term rentals (Ch. 158 review shows no STR-specific prohibitions); therefore state preemption controls. PGA Village, St. Lucie West, and Tradition planned communities generate STR demand (golf tourism, spring training — New York Mets and Washington Nationals train in the area historically; PGA of America Learning Center anchor).
FL Building Code Preemptionapplies
Qualifying condition
Universal applicability to all FL municipalities. Port St. Lucie is in High Velocity Hurricane Zone-adjacent wind zone (coastal SE Florida, ~5 mi inland from Atlantic; within Wind Zone 2/3 for FBC wind-load mapping). FBC 7th Edition (2020, Residential and Building volumes) governs construction standards.
FL Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Protection Actapplies
Qualifying condition
Universal applicability to all FL municipalities. Operates as a litigation-risk backstop: owners may bring claims for compensation when a specific governmental action inordinately burdens an existing use or vested right. Not a direct field-preemption but a structural constraint on any down-zoning or new restriction. Port St. Lucie's large GDC-platted-lot inventory (hundreds of thousands of quarter-acre RS-2/RS-3 lots owned by individual investors nationally) creates an unusually broad Bert Harris exposure footprint — any overlay-expansion or down-zoning action touches absentee-owner expectations at scale.
FL Comprehensive Plan Consistency — Ch. 163.3180 (Concurrency)applies
Qualifying condition
Universal applicability. Port St. Lucie has an adopted Comprehensive Plan on file with Florida Department of Commerce, with active concurrency management for transportation, schools (via interlocal with St. Lucie County School Board), potable water, sewer, solid waste, drainage, and parks. All development orders must be consistent with the adopted Comp Plan. PSL's rapid growth (one of Florida's fastest-growing cities) places concurrency management under continuous stress especially on transportation (I-95 / Florida Turnpike interchange capacity) and schools.
FL Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA) — Ch. 163.3178applies
Qualifying condition
Per-parcel geographic predicate keyed to Category 1 SLOSH inundation zones as defined at §163.3178(2)(h). Port St. Lucie sits inland from the Atlantic barrier islands (Hutchinson Island / Jensen Beach / Fort Pierce front the ocean) but portions of the city along the North Fork St. Lucie River and the eastern edge of the city fall within the Category 1 SLOSH zone per FDEM storm-surge mapping. Not all PSL parcels are CHHA-exposed — the predicate is per-parcel geographic, not citywide. Hutchinson Island and coastal-beach parcels east of PSL are in Fort Pierce / unincorporated St. Lucie County, not PSL jurisdiction.
Non-applicable laws (1)
FL Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) — Ch. 161not_applicable
Qualifying condition
Per-parcel geographic predicate keyed to the FDEP-mapped CCCL. Port St. Lucie sits inland of Florida's Atlantic barrier islands — Hutchinson Island and the ocean beachfront lie to the east in Fort Pierce and unincorporated St. Lucie County, not PSL jurisdiction. PSL parcels do not extend to the FDEP-mapped CCCL on the Atlantic shoreline.
Adopted building codes
Statewide — FL Building Code 7th ed
Click a code label to open its state-by-state adoption atlas.
Quirks & notes
Formulas
Definitions
- height
- Grade to highest point of structure (parapet or ridge) — per Ch. 158 definitions (not directly retrieved this pass; standard FL definition assumed).
- lot_coverage
- Building footprint / lot area (not retrieved live).
- far
- Gross floor area / lot area (not retrieved live).
- du_ac
- Dwelling units per gross acre — encoded directly in RM-5/8/11/15 district names.
- setback_front
- Front property line to nearest building face.
- setback_side
- Side property line to nearest building face.
- setback_rear
- Rear property line to nearest building face.
- parking
- Spaces per dwelling unit unless noted; specific parking matrix not retrieved live this pass.
Capacity calculations
- max_footprint_sf
lot_area_sf * lot_coverage- max_gfa_sf
lot_area_sf * far (where FAR is stated)- buildable_width_ft
lot_width_ft - setback_side_ft * 2- buildable_depth_ft
lot_depth_ft - setback_front_ft - setback_rear_ft- max_stories_approx
max_height_ft / 10
Massing explorer
Interactive 3D comparison across every district. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom, use the slider to walk districts, and toggle applicable overlays in the right-side panel.
Sort by
Max height
— ft
——
Floor area ratio
—
——
Lot coverage
—%
——
Setbacks (F / S / R)
— ft
——
Parking
— /unit
——
Max density
— du/ac
——
Min lot size
— sf
——
Copy zoning profile
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| District | Category | Height | FAR | Coverage | Setbacks | Parking | Density | Min lot | Overlays |
|---|
Sources & references
Citations
- [1] §158.073
- [2] §158.073
- [3] §158.073
- [4] §158.073
- [5] §158.076
- [6] §158.076
- [7] §158.076
- [8] §158.076
- [9] §158.076
- [10] §Ch.158-RM5
- [11] §Ch.158-RM8
- [12] §158.079
- [13] §158.079
- [14] §158.079
- [15] §158.079
- [16] §158.079
- [17] §158.079
- [18] §Ch.158-RM15
- [19] §158.124(I)(1)
- [20] §Ch.158-CN
- [21] §158.155
- [22] §158.155
- [23] §158.155
- [24] §158.155
- [25] §158.155
- [26] §158.122
- [27] §158.122
- [28] §158.122
Research status
Publication gates
| primary url present | passed | code_source = https://library.municode.com/fl/port_st._lucie/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TITXVLAUS_CH158ZOCO (canonical Municode URL for PSL Ch. 158 Zoning Code with deep-link nodeId). source_platform = 'Municode (Municipal Code Corporation)'. Secondary references to cityofpsl.com (Planning & Zoning Department) and psl.granicus.com (city's primary document host) are official city domains, not aggregators. |
|---|---|---|
| no aggregator cited | passed | Record scan (profile JSON + research markdown) confirms no Zoneomics / Steadily / SitePlanGuide / SitePlanCreator / Propwire / Zonara / Unzoned dimensional references. Zoneomics referenced ONCE in retrieval_attempts_log[] with explicit limitation that it was used only as a structural index of district codes (e.g., to flag LMD-not-LMU and IN-distinct-from-WI) — no dimensional values consumed. All dimensional citations point to Ch. 158 §-references verbatim from elaws.us mirror (§158.060 GU, §158.073 RS-2, §158.076 RS-3, §158.079 RM-11, §158.122 P, §158.124 CG, §158.135 WI, §158.155 LMD, §158.186-192 MPUD), Fla. Stat. §-references (c§166.04151, c§509.032, c§553.73, c§70.001, c§163.3180, c§163.3178, c§161), and the BROD Design Standards Document P18-024 (62 pp.) retrieved direct from psl.granicus.com. |
| confidence tags full form | passed | All 16 district confidence fields carry full-form p§/c§ section-reference tags (c§158.073 RS-2, c§158.076 RS-3, p§Ch.158-RM5/RM8/RM15, c§158.079 RM-11, c§158.060 GU, c§158.124 CG, c§Ch.158-CN, p§Ch.158-CH/CS/IN, c§158.155 LMD, c§158.135 WI, c§158.122 P, c§158.186 MPUD). All populated overlay confidence fields carry full-form tags (c§P18-024 BROD upgraded from partial→confirmed, p§Ch.152 Floodplain). 0 bare tags. The 7 overlay-absence entries carry status not_found or not_applicable with paired search_performed / reason fields. |
| overlays have parameters trigger confidence | passed | 2/2 populated overlays (BROD, Floodplain) carry non-empty parameters[] arrays. BROD now carries 16 detailed parameters (build-to zones, height caps, transparency %, parking placement, use prohibitions) with status='confirmed' and citation=c§P18-024 backed by the 62-page Design Standards PDF parsed directly. Floodplain carries 8 parameters at status='partial', cited c§Ch.152. Geographic_trigger and base_interaction strings present on both. 7 overlay-absence entries satisfy the gate via status='not_found' / 'not_applicable' with paired search_performed / reason fields and empty parameters[] arrays. |
| preempt section city specific | passed | PSL is in FL (active-preemption state). state_preemptions_applicable[] contains 8 entries (Live Local Act c§166.04151(7), SAIL/SHIP c§166.04151(6), STR c§509.032(7), FBC c§553.73, Bert Harris c§70.001, Comp Plan Consistency c§163.3180, CHHA c§163.3178 partial, CCCL c§161 not applicable). Each entry has city-specific qualifying_condition_checked and effect_on_city narratives with numeric/contextual inputs: RM-15 = 15 du/ac as LLA density floor, ~284,000 population well above 10,000 LLA threshold, GDC-platted-lot absentee-owner Bert Harris footprint, active SHIP jurisdiction, no pre-2011 local STR ordinance, Wind Zone 2/3 coastal-adjacent FBC wind-load, 1984 Land Use Conversion Manual as Bert-Harris-compliant conversion pathway, North Fork St. Lucie River + eastern-edge Category 1 SLOSH CHHA exposure, inland of CCCL. LLA citation verified correct: c§166.04151(7) F.S. |
Data quality
62%completeness38 confirmed8 partial5 inferred
Documented gaps
- RS-2 maximum building height (RS-3 is 35 ft; RS-2 likely same but not confirmed verbatim)
- Multifamily RM-5 / RM-8 / RM-15 detailed standards (lot size, width, height, setbacks) — section numbers (§158.077, §158.078, §158.080) not retrieved verbatim; du/ac encoded in names with c§ confidence on RM-11 only
- Commercial district CH (Highway Commercial), CS (Service Commercial) — section numbers and dimensional standards not retrieved verbatim (Article VIII spans §§158.122-158.134)
- Industrial (IN) — distinct from WI; section number and standards not retrieved
- GU full dimensional standards (purpose c§158.060 confirmed; setbacks/height/lot not retrieved)
- WI dimensional standards (front 25 ft, side 10/25 ft, rear 10/25 ft, height 35 ft cited in cross-source but not pulled verbatim into this profile yet)
- Floor-area ratios for any district (FAR not standard in PSL Euclidean code)
- Lot coverage percentages (not standard in PSL Euclidean code)
- Parking ratios and parking matrix by use type (Article XI §158.221)
- Floodplain Overlay specific freeboard height, fill/detention standards per Ch. 152
- CHHA-specific boundary within PSL (per-parcel polygon from FDEM)
- Per-MPUD Regulation Book parameters for Tradition / Riverland / St. Lucie West
Known issues
freshness:volatileblocker:municode-spablocker:elaws-503-botdata:rm5-rm8-rm15-standards-pending
Other cities in this state
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