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Coastal waterways of Union County, Florida
County Guide

Marine permitting in Union County

What the public record says about permitting docks, seawalls, boat lifts, and other residential marine work in Union County, Florida — and how to get through it smoothly.

Union County by the numbers

These benchmarks come from our analysis of public permit records — real filings, real decisions, real timelines.

590

Permit records analyzed

Public records, 1970–2026

21

Median days to approval

Typical range 7–78 days (middle 50%)

June & August

Busiest application months

June, August, May see the most filings

Before you can apply

Permit review is the last leg of the journey. Most projects need a few professional steps completed first — these often start with Surveying, followed by Engineering and shape your overall timeline.

Surveying

2–4 weeks

A licensed surveyor documents your shoreline, water depths, and property lines — the foundation every drawing is built on.

Engineering

3–4 weeks

An engineer prepares stamped plans for your dock, seawall, or lift so the design meets code and can be reviewed.

Environmental assessment

2–4 weeks

Seagrass, resource, and habitat checks confirm your project protects the waterway before it reaches an agency.

Who reviews marine permits here

Depending on your project and its location, review can involve the county itself, state agencies, water management districts, and federal reviewers. In the records we analyzed for Union County, these agencies appear most often:

Suwannee River Water Management District99% of records
Florida DEP1% of records

What to expect

A clean, complete submission in Union County typically reaches a decision in about 21 days — but incomplete applications can take far longer once correction rounds start.

Most delays are avoidable: missing surveys, unsigned engineering, or overlooked agency sign-offs are the usual culprits behind requests for more information.

The Tideway platform uses historical permitting data and TideAI to help identify likely requirements and common problems earlier, so submissions are less likely to come back for avoidable corrections.

A complete, internally consistent package in front of every reviewer the first time is the best way to reduce the rounds of agency corrections that add calendar time.

About these numbers: benchmarks are computed from 590 public permit records filed 1970–2026 across the agencies that publish data for Union County. Medians describe past filings, not promises — every project is different, record coverage varies by agency and year, and processing times change. Timeline figures reflect the 528 records with complete application and approval dates.

Permitting in Union County? Start with a free property check.

Tell us about your dock, seawall, or boat lift project and get a plain-language look at which agencies are likely to review it and what it may involve — free, no obligation.