Brevard County Certificate of Occupancy: Can You Open in This Space?
A Brevard County certificate of occupancy has to be issued by the building official before you can use or occupy a building, or change its use (Florida Building Code, section 111.1).
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. Reach founder Cassandra Hartford has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years and has closed more than 1,500 sales and leases.
This is our guide to the leasing process, from your first conversation with us through taking possession and preparing to open.
Quick answer: what to know about a Brevard County certificate of occupancy
The certificate states the use and occupancy, the design occupant load and whether a sprinkler system is required.
Zoning has to allow your use at the address.
A change of occupancy needs the code official's approval.
Parking is counted from your use, such as seats, stations or square feet.
Lease terms for approvals. Ask for a permit contingency, a TI allowance and free rent during the buildout.
1. Bring us these details before we search
Before we send listings, we need to understand your operation. Will you serve food or alcohol, bake, cut hair, tattoo, teach classes, sell retail or host live music? How many people will be in the space at once?
We start with these details from you:
What you will do in the space, including any food preparation.
Your seating goal, station count or expected customers at one time.
Your equipment list, with specifications.
Your busiest hours and expected staffing.
Your preferred areas.
Your opening budget and your monthly occupancy budget.
Your target opening date.
What you will compromise on and what your business needs to function.
You do not need every detail settled. We need enough information to search for your business rather than send every available storefront.
2. Screen spaces for their previous use before you tour
We map headcount, parking, power and signage before you tour. A listing gives us a starting point, and we ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
For each candidate, we request the previous use, available floor plans, known use restrictions, parking arrangements and sign criteria. If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
3. Tour for the people your space can hold
During a tour, we look beyond the finishes. Where will customers enter, order and wait?
The code counts occupants by floor area (Florida Building Code, Building, Table 1004.5):
Seating area, as in a coffee shop or music venue: 15 net square feet per person with tables and chairs, 7 with chairs only and 5 standing.
Exercise room, as in a fitness studio: 50 gross square feet per person.
Mercantile space, as in a boutique: 60 gross square feet per person.
A dining area of 600 net square feet with tables and chairs holds 40. Have your design professional review capacity, exits, circulation and accessibility.
4. Check zoning and conditional use before signing a lease
A landlord's willingness to lease to your business does not replace the local government's review.
Melbourne lists every allowed use by zoning district in Tables 1A and 1B of Appendix B. In C-1 and C-2, restaurants, personal services and retail are permitted and bars are conditional. Indoor recreation is conditional in C-1 and permitted in C-2.
Melbourne's code does not name a tattoo studio, nail salon, coffee shop, fitness studio or music venue as a zoning or parking use. If your use is not listed, the Community Development Director decides whether it is allowed in the district and whether it is permitted or conditional.
Planning and Zoning will check an address to help determine whether a business would be permitted there, according to Melbourne's Starting a New Business Toolkit. If additional approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
A conditional use in Melbourne goes to city council, which grants it by ordinance after a public hearing before the planning and zoning board. A bar or other drinking establishment that does not qualify as a restaurant needs conditional use approval to sell or serve alcohol for on-premises consumption.
See How to Find Out If Your Business Is Allowed in a Melbourne Zoning District. See also How to Get a Zoning Confirmation Letter in Melbourne. See also How to Get a Conditional Use Approval in Melbourne, and Why the Landlord Signs.
5. Find out whether your use changes the occupancy classification
A change of occupancy cannot be made without the code official's approval, and a certificate of occupancy is issued once the requirements are met (Florida Building Code, Existing Building, section 1001.2).
The Florida Building Code sorts uses into occupancy groups (Chapter 3):
Restaurant, tavern, bar or nightclub: Group A-2 (section 303.3).
Gym without spectator seating: Group A-3 (section 303.4).
Salon, barber shop or martial arts studio: Group B (section 304.1).
Boutique: Group M (section 309.1).
Bakery: Group F-1 (section 306.2).
A use the code does not list is classified in the occupancy it most nearly resembles (section 302.1). In unincorporated Brevard County, an alteration with a change of occupancy classification is a Commercial New Construction permit.
6. Know what your broker, architect, contractor and attorney each do
Reach handles the search, the cost comparison, the property questions and the business terms of the lease.
Your contractor and design professional evaluate the technical work and cost. In unincorporated Brevard County, the commercial permit application lists construction documents signed and sealed by a Florida registered architect or engineer. Your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents.
7. Count the required parking for your use
Melbourne counts parking from your use (Land Development Code, Section 9.72):
Restaurant with seating: one space per three seats and one per employee on the largest working shift, plus two bicycle spaces per 100 seats. For 24 seats and 3 employees, that is 11 spaces before bicycle parking.
Retail bakery: one space per employee on the largest working shift plus one per 300 square feet of gross floor area.
Salon: two spaces per station.
Boutique: one space per 300 square feet of gross floor area, excluding storage area.
Fitness studio: health clubs get a combination of measures the community development director determines, including one space per 150 square feet of gross floor area.
Bar: one space for each two seats or one for each 65 square feet of floor area, whichever is greater.
If your use is not listed, the parking of a similar use applies. The city engineer determines the required parking when you submit a development plan (Section 9.73).
See How to Count the Parking Your Business Needs in Melbourne. See also How to Handle Parking for an Unlisted Use in Melbourne.
8. Compare the full cost of each location
We compare more than base rent. Your occupancy review should include base rent, CAM and other charges, scheduled increases, utilities, repairs assigned to you, construction, deposits and rent due before opening.
Melbourne's fee page lists a zoning verification letter at $157 and a conditional use at $1,375 plus a $125 legal advertisement fee. Brevard County's fee list shows $37.50 for a written zoning verification and $849 for a Conditional Use Permit.
The comparison should show what you pay to get open and what you pay to stay open.
9. Negotiate the lease around your approvals
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms. We focus on:
A permitted use clause that describes your operation.
Approval contingencies for zoning, permits, financing and construction feasibility.
Landlord delivery, the tenant improvement allowance and rent commencement.
The personal guaranty and exit terms.
Ask for a permit contingency, a TI allowance and free rent during the buildout. An allowance, rent-free period or other concession only helps when the written terms fit your project.
10. Line up business tax receipts and state licenses before you open
Melbourne's toolkit puts Planning and Zoning first, building permits for any tenant build-out next, the City of Melbourne Business Tax Receipt after that and the Brevard County Business Tax Receipt last. The city says its receipt must be obtained before the business begins operation.
The city's license requirements page names the agency for your business:
Restaurant: the Division of Hotels and Restaurants.
Bakery: the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Salon: the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Tattoo shop: the Florida Department of Health, which issues the license only if the establishment complies with local building, occupational, zoning and health codes (section 381.00777, Florida Statutes).
Fitness studio: registration with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which you show to get a local business tax receipt (section 501.015, Florida Statutes).
Your reviewing agencies confirm when you have satisfied their opening requirements.
Extra items to add to your certificate of occupancy checklist
A courtesy fire inspection. Brevard County Fire Rescue's Office of Fire Prevention offers free courtesy inspections for businesses with fire and life safety questions about a potential new location. Request one at (321) 637-5660.
Owner paperwork. A Melbourne conditional use application is signed and notarized by every owner of the land.
County paperwork. In unincorporated Brevard County, a Notice of Commencement is required if job value exceeds $5,000, and impact fees are required before pre-power and the Certificate of Occupancy.
Off-site parking. Outside Melbourne's CB-OZ overlay, no more than 50 percent of required parking can be off-site (Section 9.75).
A sign permit. Signage work requires a permit, according to Melbourne's Building Section FAQ.
Schedule changes. If the project schedule changes, raise the lease implications early, and review the documents with your attorney.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Call 321-514-0876 with what you will do in the space, how many people it holds at once, your budget, preferred area and target opening date, or with the address of a space you have found.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a business open before all the work is finished?
The building official can issue a temporary certificate of occupancy before the entire work is complete, if the portion occupied is safe. The official sets the time period it is valid (section 111.3).
Does a business tax receipt replace a certificate of occupancy?
The Brevard County Tax Collector says the receipt does not confirm that the business activity complies with local zoning regulations or ensure that the premises contain the appropriate building occupancy or life safety requirements.
Sources
Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
Comments