Interior design across northern and central Palm Beach County

Building permits come from the municipality a property sits in, and the county has 39 of them, from West Palm Beach down to Cloud Lake, a town of about 130 people. Palm Beach County's Planning, Zoning and Building Department covers the unincorporated areas, including The Acreage, Jupiter Farms, Canal Point and the Agricultural Reserve west of Boynton Beach. Mailing addresses are not a reliable guide: the first two digits of a property's parcel control number identify the jurisdiction, and 00 means unincorporated county.

Design review adds a layer in some places. Wellington regulates barns, arenas and grooms' quarters through its Equestrian Overlay Zoning District; Lake Worth Beach requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for exterior work in its six historic districts; Manalapan's Architectural Commission approves any exterior change, including paint and roof-tile colors. Gated communities often add association review. We prepare drawings, finish schedules and renderings for these boards, and licensed contractors file the permits.

On the coast, the barrier-island towns range from South Palm Beach, a short stretch of State Road A1A built mostly as condominiums, to Briny Breezes, a shareholder-owned oceanfront mobile-home community, and Palm Beach Shores, with its restored mid-century houses. Inland, Wellington's roughly 9,000-acre Equestrian Preserve Area holds more than 580 farms, Westlake has been built by Minto since 2014 and incorporated in 2016, The Acreage keeps large lots and many unpaved roads, and Loxahatchee Groves incorporated in 2006 to protect its rural character.

West of Boynton Beach, the Agricultural Reserve requires developers to preserve six acres for every four they build, so its 55-plus communities sit beside farms and preserve land. Farther west, Belle Glade, Pahokee, South Bay and Canal Point line the southern and eastern shores of Lake Okeechobee, where sugarcane and vegetable farming built the towns.

Palm Beach County has regulated beachfront lighting since 1987 under its Sea Turtle Protection and Sand Preservation Ordinance. In the Sea Turtle Protection Zone of beachfront communities including Tequesta, Jupiter, North Palm Beach, Singer Island, Palm Beach Shores, Lantana, Manalapan, Briny Breezes and Boynton Beach, replacing or installing a light source requires a permit from the county's Environmental Resources Management department. Other towns run their own rules; South Palm Beach requires beachfront lights to be shielded from the beach from March 1 through October 31.

Condominium owners face a statewide layer too: Florida's 2022 condominium safety law requires milestone structural inspections for buildings three stories and taller, which can put association repairs on the same calendar as a unit renovation. Much of the county also runs on a seasonal clock, from the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington to the winter residents of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes. Our project direction service keeps work moving while owners are away and reports with photos and video.