Walton County, Florida
The milestone clock is state law. The enforcement is local.
Almost all of the condominium stock people associate with Walton County sits in unincorporated territory. Miramar Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Seascape, Sandestin, and every community along 30A answer to the county, not to a city hall, because none of them is an incorporated municipality. That makes the Walton County Building Division in DeFuniak Springs the local enforcement agency for milestone inspections across nearly the entire coastal building stock.
The county has not published a local milestone program page, a filing portal, or local deadlines, so associations here operate directly under the statute: notice from the local enforcement agency starts a 180-day clock for the Phase 1 report, and the sealed report goes to the association and the county building official. Boards that wait for a county instruction page that does not exist lose time they are statutorily on the clock for.
Walton County also layers its own coastal permitting on top of state law. The county operates under its Coastal Building Zone Ordinance, and any repair work seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line needs a separate FDEP CCCL permit before it can start. When a Phase 2 inspection turns into a repair program on a gulf-front building, that permitting sequence is part of the schedule, and our Santa Rosa Beach headquarters handles it a few miles from the buildings involved.
The local enforcement agency may determine, based on local circumstances including proximity to salt water under Fla. Stat. 379.101, that a milestone inspection is required at 25 years rather than 30. The determination is left to the agency and is not automatic. No Walton County or municipal ordinance adopting the 25-year option has been located, so the statutory 30-year trigger governs here unless that changes. (Checked July 25, 2026.)
The building officials your report actually goes to.
- City of Freeport (Planning Department permit program)
Inside these city limits, the city building official is the local enforcement agency. Everywhere else in the county, it is the county office.
Walton County has published no local milestone-inspection program page. For condominiums in unincorporated Walton County, which includes Miramar Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, and the entire 30A corridor, the local enforcement agency under section 553.899, Florida Statutes, defaults to the Walton County Building Official at the Building Division in DeFuniak Springs. Sealed reports go to the association and to that building official.
Three bills decide what your board owes and when.
- SB 4-D (2022 special session, Ch. 2022-269, Laws of Florida): Created the milestone inspection requirement at Fla. Stat. 553.899 and the structural integrity reserve study requirement at Fla. Stat. 718.112.
- SB 154 (2023 regular session, Ch. 2023-203, Laws of Florida): Revised both requirements. Among other changes, it repealed the automatic 25-year coastal trigger and replaced it with local enforcement agency discretion.
- HB 913 (2025 regular session, Ch. 2025-175, Laws of Florida): Further revised condominium and cooperative association requirements, including reserve funding flexibility tied to the milestone inspection and reserve study process.
Not new to these buildings.
What boards here ask before they call.
Who is the local enforcement agency for a condo in Miramar Beach or on 30A?
The Walton County Building Official, through the Walton County Building Division at 117 E. Sloss Ave. in DeFuniak Springs, (850) 892-8160. Miramar Beach and the 30A communities are unincorporated, so there is no city building department in the chain.
Does Walton County require milestone inspections at 25 years instead of 30?
Not that we have found. SB 154 in 2023 made the 25-year timing a local option rather than an automatic coastal rule, and no Walton County ordinance adopting that option has been located as of July 25, 2026. The statutory 30-year trigger applies unless the county acts.
Where does the milestone report actually get filed in Walton County?
The county has no dedicated milestone filing page, so the statutory default applies: the engineer submits the sealed Phase 1 report to the association and to the Walton County Building Official. We handle that submission as part of the engagement.
Our building is gulf-front. Does that change the repair process after Phase 2?
It can. Work seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line requires a separate FDEP CCCL permit, and Walton County applies its own Coastal Building Zone requirements in county permitting. Those approvals belong in the first version of the repair schedule, because the statute expects repairs to commence within 365 days of the Phase 2 report.
Reviewed by Neill O'Connell, PE, Florida Professional Engineer license PE 63628 and Florida Special Inspector. County authority details verified against each government's published pages on July 25, 2026.
Send the building address and the notice you received.
A licensed engineer who inspects in this county will tell you what the statute actually requires for your building, and what it does not.