Life in Cocoa Beach

(12/5/2007)
“We were planning on buying a vacation home in Anna Marie Island on the west coast of Florida. I haven't been to Cocoa Beach for quite a few years. We stopped by Cocoa Beach before a cruise out of Cape Canaveral. Came back, met some locals, ate in a local Cuban restaurant, went to the Art Festival, looked around town and bought a house. What? Bought a house after visiting Cocoa Beach for 4 hours? Yes indeed and we are as excited as can be. Now we are trying to figure out how to move here full time!”

-- A new resident from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

If you ask locals what they like about Cocoa Beach, the resounding response is “Everything!”

Probing more deeply, they will tell you they enjoy the laid-back lifestyle, the weather and just the general friendliness of everyone. They enjoy having grocery shopping and eateries within the community. They enjoy walking on the beach, surfing and surfcasting. They paddle kayaks in the “Thousand Islands” in the Banana River Lagoon. Others play golf, tennis or swim in the City-owned Cocoa Beach Country Club (open to the public). It seems there is something for everyone. Space Shuttle and unmanned missiles can be clearly observed as they are launched at nearby Kennedy Space Center. Manatees, bottlenose dolphins and wading birds are observable everyday. All this and so much more in little Cocoa Beach (just 4 ½ square miles of land area) with its 13,000 permanent residents. We love Cocoa Beach!

Whether you prefer a single family home (many with water frontage in canalled neighborhoods) or a condo (many with ocean or river views), there may be no better time to make the leap and join us in our own little paradise.

Take the photo tour of Cocoa Beach. Check out the available properties. Is now the time?

Per the Preamble of the City of Cocoa Beach Charter, our city is a “low-density residential and family-oriented resort community”. As such, our land use regulations include restrictions – based on zoning codes – on how individual properties may be used. In general, for example, single-family dwellings are in residential neighborhoods and shall not be offered for transient lodging.

Transient lodging is defined as “rented more than three (3) times in a calendar year for periods of less than thirty (30) days or one (1) calendar month, whichever is less, or which is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to transient residents”.

Transient resident means a visitor to the community who does not use the dwelling as principal residence, who is neither gainfully employed in the community nor a student currently enrolled in a school located in the community or who resides in the dwelling for less than thirty (30) days or one (1) calendar month, whichever is less.

In multi-family residential (condominiums, for example) and commercial zoning areas, transient lodging may be permitted if allowed by the condominium association. In such situations, a property used for transient lodging requires payment of City business tax and securing a Certificate of Use, registration with and payment of fees to the State of Florida Department of Business Regulation Division of Hotels and Restaurants, registration with and payment of bed tax to the State of Florida Department of Revenue and a fire inspection and approval by the City Fire Marshal. Transient lodging use may involve property improvements (fire sprinklers, for example) to comply with the State of Florida Life Safety Code.

Before you finalize your real estate purchase, make sure you have a full understanding of local land use laws. You can call the City of Cocoa Beach Development Services Department at (321) 868-3217 and get specific information of the regulations that apply to the property under consideration.