Chapter 01 — The list, and how far it goes
It does not stop at the house.
A published permit list that reaches the kerb
Most municipalities publish a short list of the obvious things and leave the rest to a phone call. Lantana publishes a long one, and reading it properly is the single most useful hour on a project here. New buildings, additions, demolitions, structural repairs, sheds, pergolas and porches. Air conditioning "including exact changeouts". Roofing, fences, walls, docks, boatlifts and seawalls. Driveways, parking lots, patios and pavers. Swimming pools, pool decks and spas. Windows, doors, garage doors and hurricane shutters. Generators. Solar. Tents and awnings.
And then two entries that are worth stopping on, because almost nobody expects them: "Installation of allowable material in a Town swale" and "Installation of artificial turf". The swale is the shallow drainage channel between a property and the road. Putting something in it is not landscaping in Lantana — it is permitted work, and the Town publishes a Swale Permit Application for it.
The list also includes "Construction staging" and "Excavations and site work", which means the way a job is set up is itself in scope rather than a private arrangement between an owner and a contractor. On a small lot in a compact town, that is a reasonable position for a municipality to take and a genuinely useful thing to know before a skip arrives.
The other half of what makes this Town distinctive is what it does NOT do automatically. Expedited review exists under Florida Statutes Chapter 553, but the Town says applicants "will be required, upon submission ... to notify the Town that he or she is requesting expedited processing and state the statutory basis entitlement". It is opt-in, it is claimed at the moment of filing, and the statutory basis has to be named.

- Timber-lined soffit over the terracevisible in this frame
- Fin columns carrying the roofvisible in this frame
- Outdoor kitchen run under covervisible in this frame
- Large-format stone deckvisible in this frame
- Spa set into the deck edgevisible in this frame
Permitted, with its own application
The Town lists "Installation of allowable material in a Town swale" among work requiring a permit and publishes a Swale Permit Application. The strip between your property and the road is not yours to change quietly.
Artificial turf is on the list
Also published as requiring a permit. It is the kind of item owners routinely treat as a landscaping decision and the Town treats as construction.
Opt-in, and named at submittal
Certain permits can be expedited under Chapter 553, but the applicant must notify the Town at submission and "state the statutory basis entitlement for such expedited processing".





























