Serving North Bay Village — an incorporated island municipality (a city, styled “the Village” in its own code) in Miami-Dade County, FL.
North Bay Village is three small islands — Harbor Island, North Bay Island, and Treasure Island — strung along the Kennedy Causeway in Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach. It’s overwhelmingly condominium, with one gated single-family enclave and a Kennedy Causeway corridor now governed by a form-based code. That split is the whole story for a fence here: a transect-zone parcel and a single-family lot answer to different height rules. Allday Fence reads which regime governs your address, designs to it, and pulls the Village permit — with 18 years of experience in these Miami-Dade offices.
Allday is a licensed specialty fence contractor — fences, concrete walls, and columns. That scope matters on these islands, where the code repeatedly reaches past chain-link and wood to concrete and CBS (concrete-block) walls, finished masonry, and ornamental columns and entrance features — so whether your parcel calls for an open aluminum picket, a low finished front wall inside the height cap, or masonry columns flanking a gate, it’s one licensed contractor designing, engineering, and permitting the whole thing.
Why a fence is different in North Bay Village
Most Miami-Dade cities run one fence rulebook. North Bay Village runs two, and which one applies depends on where your parcel sits inside a city that is barely a square mile of made land.
The Village adopted a Unified Land Development Code that keeps conventional zoning (Chapter 8) for its established residential districts and layers a modern form-based code — the “NBV100” code (Chapter 15) — over the Kennedy Causeway corridor and its redevelopment areas. On a single-family lot on North Bay Island (zoned RS-1), your fence answers to the classic Chapter 8 numbers: a five-foot front-yard cap, six feet on the sides and rear. On a parcel inside a transect zone — the Kennedy Boulevard District (T6-24, T6-30) or the Sunbeam NBV Special Area Plan on Treasure Island — your fence answers to the form-based rule instead: three and one-half feet inside the Primary and Secondary Frontage setbacks and the View Corridors, and eight feet elsewhere, all measured from grade.
On top of the geometry sits the character of the place. North Bay Village is a water-view city — its code invents View Corridors specifically to keep sightlines open to Biscayne Bay, and it treats a waterfront lot’s bay side as a regulated frontage. It bans chain link in front yards outright, with no grandfathering. And because nearly every resident lives in a condominium or a gated community, an association architectural approval usually rides on top of the Village permit. So the answer here is almost never a simple “six feet.” It’s: which island, which zoning, which frontage — and which of the Village’s two codes governs your post line.
Where we work inside North Bay Village
The Village is compact and entirely islands, tied together and to the mainland by the Kennedy Causeway (the 79th Street Causeway / State Road 934 / John F. Kennedy Causeway) — the spine that carries traffic west to Miami and east to Miami Beach’s Normandy Isle. The three islands each have their own character:
- Harbor Island — the central island, home to Village Hall and the Building and Zoning Department and a run of mid- and high-rise condominiums overlooking the bay.
- North Bay Island — the Village’s gated, single-family residential enclave (zoned RS-1), a quiet grid of waterfront homes on seawalled lots; this is where the conventional Chapter 8 fence rules do their work.
- Treasure Island — a mix of established condominiums and the redevelopment corridor: the Kennedy Boulevard District and the Sunbeam NBV Special Area Plan front the causeway here, and it’s where the form-based transect-zone rules govern.
- The Kennedy Causeway corridor itself — the mixed-use, walkable “boulevard” the NBV100 plan is transforming, including the planned Pirates Alley village-center activation.
North Bay Village also carries a broadcasting heritage — long known as the “Radio City of South Florida” for the radio and TV operations rooted here. Whichever island and whichever code your parcel falls under, Allday builds to the governing Village rule first, and to the condo-association and waterfront conditions that sit on top of it.
Fence permit rules in North Bay Village
Everything below is the general framework for a residential fence, wall, or gate in North Bay Village, drawn from the Village’s own Unified Land Development Code — conventional-zoning fence section 8.17(F) (verified against the ULDC published on the Village’s website) and the Chapter 15 form-based code adopted for the Kennedy Causeway / Treasure Island corridor by Ordinance No. 2021-004. Which numbers apply — and whether your parcel is governed by conventional zoning or the form-based code — varies by island, zoning district, frontage designation, and waterfront condition. Allday Fence confirms the current Village code for your exact address before we quote, and we pull the permit. Where a figure below comes straight from those official Village documents, we’ve cited it; anything that rests on department discretion, on a post-adoption amendment, or on wording we couldn’t independently pin down is stated in general terms, and we confirm the current Village code for your exact address before we build.
A permit is required. A fence, wall, or gate in North Bay Village is a Village building permit, submitted digitally (the Building Department has accepted applications only by email to the Building Clerk since April 1, 2022). The Department publishes a Standard Wood Fence Detail and a Permit Package Requirements list. There is no no-permit tier.
Height — which code governs decides the number.
Conventional zoning (single-family RS districts — e.g., North Bay Island — and other conventional parcels), Code Sec. 8.17(F):
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Front yard setback: no wall or fence may exceed five (5) feet (Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(c)).
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Corner lots: the Village commonly treats a corner lot’s street side as a front condition rather than an interior side — which can carry the lower front-yard cap onto that second frontage instead of the six-foot side figure. We confirm exactly how your corner is treated with Building and Zoning before we quote.
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Side and rear setbacks: walls and fences may not exceed six (6) feet (Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(e)).
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Height is measured from the average elevation of the finished building site to the top of the wall, fence, or hedge (Sec. 8.17(F)).
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Hedges may reach twelve (12) feet in the front, rear, and side setbacks in the RS-1 and RS-2 districts, if trimmed and not obstructing traffic visibility — a genuine single-family-island allowance (Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(d)).
Form-based code (transect-zone parcels — Kennedy Boulevard District T6-24/T6-30, Sunbeam NBV SAP), Chapter 15:
- Frontage setbacks and View Corridors: walls, hedges, fences, and gates may not exceed three and one-half (3.5) feet within the setbacks of the Primary and Secondary Frontages and within the View Corridors (Chapter 15 form-based code, Ordinance No. 2021-004).
- Elsewhere on a transect parcel: walls, hedges, fences, and gates may not exceed eight (8) feet (Chapter 15 form-based code, Ordinance No. 2021-004).
- Streetscreens in these zones run between 3.5 and 8 feet, built of a material matching the adjacent building façade or of masonry, wrought iron or aluminum (a hedge may substitute), and must be at least 50% permeable above three feet (Chapter 15 form-based code, Ordinance No. 2021-004).
- On a transect parcel the conventional Chapter 8 fence rules and the Chapter 15 form-based standards work together; which one sets your height turns on your zone and frontage, which we confirm before quoting.
Corner visibility (the sight-line rule). In addition to the corner-lot treatment above, no fence that obstructs or obscures vision — and no wall or hedge — may exceed four (4) feet in height within 30 feet of the intersection of the official right-of-way lines (Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(b)). North Bay Village handles corner safety with that 30-foot/4-foot triangle. We confirm the exact corner and driveway sight-line expectation for your parcel with Building and Zoning before we set a corner post.
Setback / clearance details:
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No fence, wall, or hedge within six feet of a fire hydrant or other emergency apparatus (Sec. 8.17(F)).
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Landscaping on the street side. Any front wall or fence requires landscaping on its street side (Sec. 8.17(F)); the specific minimum landscape-bed width is a per-parcel detail we confirm with the Department.
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No concrete-block wall parallel to the 79th Street (Kennedy) Causeway — a specific North Bay Village prohibition protecting the causeway frontage (Sec. 8.17(F)).
Material and design:
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Finished side faces out. A fence built with pickets or slats on one side must have the finished side facing the adjacent property, concealing the structural elements from off-premises view; a concrete-block wall must be finished with stucco or another approved material on the side facing away from the property (and any concrete or concrete-block wall in a front yard must be sustained in a finished condition), under Sec. 8.17(F)(3)(a)(2)–(3) and Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(c)(2).
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Concrete / CBS walls and columns are in scope. As a licensed specialty fence contractor Allday also builds concrete and concrete-block (CBS) walls, finished masonry walls, and concrete columns/pillars — a natural fit here, since the Village’s own fence code governs concrete walls (finish requirements, the no-CBS-wall-parallel-to-the-causeway rule) and ornamental columns directly (Sec. 8.17(F)).
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No chain link in front yards. Chain link, wire, or cable fencing — or anything similar in appearance — is prohibited within the front setbacks (everything past the front edge of the house toward the street), under Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(f).
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Corridor design leans open. Along the Kennedy Causeway corridor, the form-based code’s streetscreen standards call for screens “of a material matching the adjacent building façade or of masonry, wrought iron or aluminum,” kept between 3.5 and 8 feet and at least 50% permeable above three feet (Chapter 15 form-based code, Ordinance No. 2021-004) — an open, finished look rather than a solid privacy fence. We design the front elevation to the current streetscreen and material wording for your transect zone.
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Green-wall note (transect parking structures). Where a project includes a parking structure without liners on a Primary/Secondary Frontage (e.g., facing Pirates Alley or the View Corridor), the form-based code requires green or vegetated walls on a minimum of 20% of the structure — a Chapter 15 form-based standard (Ordinance No. 2021-004) that applies to parking structures, not standard residential fencing.
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Ornamental entrance features and columns — ornamental entrances, fountains, plant containers, and similar architectural features (including masonry columns/pillars, which Allday is licensed to build) may exceed the district’s wall-height restriction by up to three (3) feet, with only one such feature per front, side, or rear yard — except that two entrance gates are allowed (Sec. 8.17(F)(2)(g)(1)–(2)).
Hurricane-zone product approval (all of Miami-Dade). North Bay Village, like every municipality in the county, sits in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ), and the Village has adopted the Florida Building Code. A manufactured aluminum, PVC, or vinyl fence system proves it meets wind load through a current Florida Product Approval or a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA). The exact product-approval documentation the Village wants on the fence submittal we confirm with Building and Zoning for your specific system.
Wall vs. fence — the concrete difference. A standard fence and a masonry wall are not the same permit. A concrete or CBS (concrete-block) wall — and especially a taller one — generally needs structural engineering, a proper footing/foundation, and sealed wind-load detailing to satisfy HVHZ / Florida Building Code review, which a light manufactured fence clears with a product approval alone. As a licensed specialty fence contractor whose scope covers concrete walls and concrete columns, Allday handles both sides of that: the engineering (with our structural engineer where a sealed design is required) and the Village permit — so a finished front wall, masonry columns, or a block privacy wall on the interior is one accountable contractor, not a fence crew plus a separate wall trade. (We do not do retaining walls or structural building walls; the exact engineering threshold and footing spec are set per wall height and design and confirmed at permitting — we don’t publish a one-size height number.)
Survey. North Bay Village’s permit package is built around an accurate site drawing, and a current property survey showing the proposed fence or wall location relative to property lines, setbacks, and any easement is the standard basis for a Miami-Dade municipal fence permit. Confirm the exact survey requirement against the Department’s current Permit Package Requirements for your parcel.
Temporary construction fencing. During active construction, a temporary fence may run above the normal caps but may not exceed eight (8) feet, and it must be screened to conceal construction materials from view (Sec. 8.17(F)(4)); the exact current material wording we confirm per permit.
Fees and timeline. The Village has not published a flat fence fee or a fence-specific processing time, and we don’t print numbers we can’t stand behind — building-permit fees in North Bay Village are valuation-based and confirmed with the Department. A Florida Building Code permit becomes invalid if work isn’t commenced within six months (FBC 105.4.1). We confirm current cost and turnaround with Building and Zoning at 305-754-6740 / buildingclerk@nbvillage.com as part of your quote.
Framing line: Heights, the governing code (conventional vs. form-based), the corner-lot and view-corridor reads, and pool-barrier details vary by island, zoning district, and frontage — we confirm the current North Bay Village code for your exact address before we quote, and we pull the permit.
Pool-barrier fencing in North Bay Village
North Bay Village enforces the residential pool safety barrier through its own Code (chapter 151 pool provisions) on top of the Florida Building Code — and the two-code structure means the barrier still has to satisfy the Village’s fence rules for its zone. In practice a compliant barrier is at least four feet (48 inches) high measured on the side facing away from the pool, leaves no more than a 2-inch gap at the bottom, rejects a 4-inch sphere through any opening, and closes off the pool with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Where a wall of the house serves as part of the barrier, the doors opening to the pool need a self-closing/self-latching device or an exit alarm to code. The pool and its barrier are permitted and inspected together, and the pool gets no final and can’t be filled until the barrier passes. These figures are written into the Village’s own pool-safety-barrier code (alongside chapter 151 and the Florida Building Code), so they’re stable — we confirm the exact wording and any zone-specific fence overlay before we build. See our pool-code barrier fencing.
The permitting authority — and who it is NOT
North Bay Village permits through its own Building and Zoning Department at 1666 Kennedy Causeway, Suite 101 — not Miami-Dade County RER, which handles only unincorporated parcels. Since April 1, 2022 the Department has taken applications digitally only: the permit package is emailed as PDFs to the Building Clerk (buildingclerk@nbvillage.com), and inspection requests go to the same address. The Chief Building Official is Pedro Martinez; the Building Director is Leilani Calzadilla. A fence runs the standard reviews off one submittal — building/structural for the fence detail, zoning for the applicable height cap and the corner/view-corridor read, plus form-based design review where the parcel sits in a transect zone — and is inspected before close-out. We assemble the digital package the way the Department expects, work any corrections, walk the inspection, and close the permit against the property record.
The condo & design-overlay layer
North Bay Village is, more than almost any city in Miami-Dade, a city of condominiums. For most residents a fence, wall, or gate touches two approvals, not one: the Village building permit and the condominium or homeowners’ association architectural approval, which is a private governance layer separate from the Village and often stricter about materials and color. On North Bay Island, the gated single-family community adds its own expectations at the front line. And for any parcel inside a Form-Based District — the Kennedy Boulevard District or the Sunbeam NBV Special Area Plan — the Village applies form-based Design Review Criteria through Planning & Zoning, judging materials, opacity, and how the fence meets the frontage and any View Corridor. Before we design a North Bay Village fence we build the drawings to the tightest rule on your parcel — the governing Village code first, plus association sign-off and any form-based design review where it applies — so the package clears the first time instead of bouncing between the Village and your board.
How an Allday North Bay Village project runs
- Property record first. Before we quote, we run a MyHausFax™ property compliance report on your parcel to surface permit history, open permits, seawall/waterfront constraints, the zoning district, and any recorded restriction — so we’re designing against the real record and the right code, not a guess.
- Confirm the governing code. We verify with Building and Zoning whether your parcel is conventional (Chapter 8) or form-based (Chapter 15) transect zone, and pin the frontage designation and any View Corridor — because that decides your height number.
- Design to that read. The five-foot front / six-foot side-rear line on a single-family RS lot; the three-and-a-half-foot frontage/view-corridor line (eight feet elsewhere) on a transect parcel; an open aluminum picket wherever chain link would be illegal out front; the 30-foot corner sight triangle held clear; the street-side landscape bed drawn in.
- Full digital package filed. Survey, site plan, fence/wall detail (or the Village’s Standard Wood Fence Detail), product approvals / engineer detailing for HVHZ, and any association or form-based design sign-off — assembled as PDFs the way the Department requires.
- Corrections and design review cleared. We answer building, structural, and zoning comments and carry any transect-zone parcel through form-based design review.
- Install + inspection. Built to the approved plans; the inspection walked with the Village inspector, including the pool-barrier safety inspection where a pool is involved.
- Permit closed. Closed against the property record in writing — nothing left open to surface at a sale, a refinance, or a four-point inspection. If a fence, wall, or pool barrier is already up without a permit, our sister company Permit Solutions Services runs the after-the-fact / legalization path.
What Allday installs in North Bay Village
Open aluminum picket and decorative front fencing built to the five-foot (RS) or three-and-a-half-foot (transect frontage) cap where chain link is barred out front, six-foot side and rear privacy on single-family lots, finished concrete, CBS and concrete-block walls and concrete columns and masonry entrance pillars (finished/stuccoed to code, engineered for the HVHZ where the height calls for it), pool-code barrier fencing built non-climbable to the four-foot/48-inch, self-latching standard, low see-through runs along seawalls and View Corridors for waterfront parcels, gated entries with compliant ornamental columns, commercial, condominium and multi-family / association fencing across the Kennedy Causeway corridor, and fence repair and storm restoration on all three islands. Every job is a permit-tied install — designed to the governing Village code, product-approved or engineer-sealed for the HVHZ, design-reviewed where required, pulled digitally, and finaled. As a licensed specialty contractor, our scope runs any fence type plus concrete walls and columns — not retaining walls or structural building walls.
Also serving nearby in Miami-Dade County
North Bay Village sits mid-causeway between two Miami-Dade markets we work every week:
- Miami Beach fence contractor — directly east across the bay via the Kennedy Causeway to Normandy Isle, with its own building department and design rules.
- Miami fence contractor — the mainland to the west where the causeway lands, permitting through the City of Miami.
Allday Fence serves Miami-Dade County only, as a licensed specialty fence contractor — fences, concrete walls, and columns. With 18 years of experience in these exact county and municipal offices — including North Bay Village’s two-code split, its View Corridors, and its digital-only permit desk — we file, final, and close every permit against the property record.
Reviewed by Victor L. Moreno, Chief Compliance Officer, before publish. This page is general guidance, not a code determination for any specific parcel — Allday Fence confirms the current North Bay Village code (conventional Chapter 8 vs. form-based Chapter 15) for your exact address before quoting. Allday Fence is the contractor of record (NOC / lien entity) on Village permits.