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Demox

South Florida

Demolition in Palm Beach County

The city, town or county building division issues the permit. The asbestos notice does not go to a county environmental department at all: it goes to the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County.

Palm Beach moves the asbestos notice to an authority that neither of the counties to the south uses. It does not go to a county environmental department: it goes to the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, at least ten working days before the work starts. A notice filed with DERM, or with Broward's Natural Resources Division, has not been filed at all as far as a Palm Beach job is concerned.

Two details catch people out. Written notice is required even where there is no asbestos in the building, so a clean survey does not remove the filing, only its consequences. And a thorough inspection for asbestos is required in order to complete the notification in the first place, which means the survey precedes the notice rather than following it.

County-owned buildings are the one exception, and they go to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Southeast District instead. The fee is set by county code and published in a separate notification fee schedule rather than as one figure, so it is worth reading before it is budgeted.

On top of all that the Florida Building Code requires an asbestos notification statement on the face of the permit itself, placing the duty on the owner or operator. Municipal forms across the county restate it in their own layout, and it is easy to read one of those as the whole obligation. It is not. The health department notice is separate and it is the one with the clock on it.

Demolition work in a Palm Beach County setting
Single-lot teardown, where the survey has to precede the notice and the notice has to precede the permit. Generated footage, not a recording of a job in Palm Beach County.

What is different here

Each line below is taken from a published requirement, not from a general description of the area. This is the part that moves your dates.

  • 01Written notice goes to the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, at least ten working days before the work starts. That is a different authority from Miami-Dade's DERM and from Broward's Natural Resources Division, and a notice filed with the wrong one is not a notice.
  • 02Notices, asbestos surveys and fees go to the Asbestos Program Coordinator, Division of Environmental Public Health, 800 Clematis St, 4th Floor, West Palm Beach. Electronic submission is accepted.
  • 03County-owned buildings are the exception: those notices go to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Southeast District instead.
  • 04Written notice is required even when no asbestos is present in the structure, and a thorough inspection for asbestos is required in order to complete the notification at all.
  • 05The fee is set by Palm Beach County Code chapter 11, article II, section 11-24(4)(f) and published in a separate notification fee schedule rather than as a single figure on the programme page.
  • 06Florida Building Code 105.9 requires an asbestos notification statement on the face of every demolition or renovation permit, placing the duty on the owner or operator under Florida Statute 469.003. Municipal forms across the county restate it; none of them replaces the health department notice.

Sources

Requirements change. Verify anything you intend to rely on with the issuing department before you plan around it.