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Lake bank repair for community development districts
For CDD boards and district managers: the same eroding banks as any lake community, with public procurement rules on top. This page states what Florida Statutes ask of a district, and what we put in writing.
1The problem
“The bank is collapsing.”
The bank is the same as in any lake community. How the repair is bought is not.
A collapsing bank is a symptom. The cause comes first: water running onto the bank from downspouts and drain pipes, or water that is deep at the edge, with no shelf: no flat ledge under the water.
A community development district is a special district with its own budget. Where it manages the community’s lakes, the board has two things to answer for: the condition of the bank, and the way the contract for the repair is awarded. Both are in the next section.
2For the board
What the district has to defend
How the repair is bought, and what public rules say about the bank. The statements below belong to the authorities named in them, and they say nothing about ShoreWorks. Our own part is the last line.
How the repair is bought
- Maintenance services. A district’s contracts for maintenance services are subject to competitive solicitation when the amount is above category four (section 190.033(3), Florida Statutes). Category four is $195,000 (section 287.017).
- Public works. A board that seeks to construct or improve public works follows the bidding procedures of section 255.20 (section 190.033(1)). Under section 255.20(1), a project estimated to cost more than $300,000 must be competitively awarded. Paragraph (1)(c) lists the cases in which that does not apply. One of them, in subparagraph 5, is a project “undertaken as repair or maintenance of an existing public facility”.
- Payment and performance bond. Under section 255.05(1), a person who enters into a formal contract for a public work must execute a payment and performance bond. The official or board awarding the contract may exempt a contract of $200,000 or less.
- Maintenance or construction? Whether a bank repair is maintenance or construction, and whether that exception covers it, is a question for district counsel. This page does not answer it.
Florida Statutes (2026), sections 190.033, 287.017, 255.20 and 255.05.
What public rules say about the bank
- The permit stays with whoever operates the lake. A community’s stormwater lake is a permitted structure. Florida’s rule says the entity that operates and maintains it “shall remain liable for compliance with the terms of the permit in perpetuity”, unless the permit is transferred or modified under the rules (Rule 62-330.310(6), Florida Administrative Code). If the district is the operating entity named in the lake’s permit, that sentence applies to it.
- The slope is a design criterion. Stormwater lakes in the South Florida Water Management District are designed with side slopes no steeper than 4:1, from the top of the bank to at least two feet below the control elevation, the lake’s permitted normal water level (SFWMD Applicant’s Handbook Vol. II, section 5.3.2(e)). A bank that has eroded steeper than that is no longer the profile the district designs to, and restoring it is maintenance of a permitted structure. Other water management districts in South and Central Florida have their own criteria.
- A drainage district names the method. The South Broward Drainage District lists geotubes (sand-filled geotextile tubes) among the methods used successfully in the district. Inside its boundaries it requires a district permit for any erosion restoration work.
Our part. We prepare and file the paperwork, and the proposal says which permit your lake needs and how long it should take.
3Estimate
Get your free online estimate
Takes about 20 seconds. Your price range arrives by email within 24 hours.
Rather talk? Call (954) 284-0812.
What happens after you write
We call back
Within 2 hours on business days (usually sooner).
Free site visit
For one lake, within 7 days (usually sooner). The method is settled on site.
Written proposal
With a price range, within 2 days of the site visit.
If you ask for an online estimate instead, you get a price range within 24 hours. It is a range, not a quote, and it never names a method.
4Answers
Questions boards ask
Does the repair need a permit?
A community’s stormwater lake is a permitted structure, and we are restoring it, not building a new one. What that takes depends on three things we check on the free site visit: which district your lake sits in, whether the design changes, and whether an engineer’s seal is required. We tell you before you sign, not after.
We prepare and file the paperwork and put the timeline in the proposal.
What is free, and what is paid?
The site visit for one lake is free, and we come within 7 days (usually sooner). The drone and sonar shoreline survey is a paid service, sold on its own.
Several lakes, or a whole community? Then we quote the paid survey instead of the free visit.
What about our landscapers?
Mowing on top is fine. Edging at the waterline is the one thing to stop. We give your crew a one-page guide and walk the bank with them at handover.
What if the water level drops in the dry season?
It will. Florida lakes drop every dry season, and a submerged tube can show for a while. That cannot be fully prevented. Where we expect the level to fall, we cover the submerged tube with a protective fabric, and the care guide tells your crew what to look for at the waterline.