Lakeshore Protection Code Update

Healthy shorelines are vital to water quality and animal habitat.

That's why Orange County's Environmental Protection Division (EPD) is looking to strengthen policies to better protect shorelines along our natural waterbodies, including lakes, ponds, and streams.

Despite rapid and widespread growth across Central Florida, many of the County's ordinances centered on lakeshore protection have been in place for decades, largely unchanged. Orange County’s ecologists, water quality experts, and policy professionals are reviewing a variety of data and historical usage to consider the effectiveness of the existing codes and determine what changes are necessary.

What's wrong with our current lakeshore code? We will have better answers following the review, but we have observed several issues that are problematic:

• Native vegetation not being replanted after authorized removal of invasive/exotic vegetation
• Grandfathered “beach” shorelines leading to creation of new beaches
• Many of the code enforcement issues stem from unauthorized lakeshore vegetation clearing, despite current policies.
• Existing “dredge and fill” codes were not written with performance standards in mind for seawalls. The process to get a seawall permit takes too long and the standards are ill-suited for projects involving shoreline hardening.

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