Cocoa Beach magistrate finds permitting violations at Coconut Cove Yacht Club; 30- and 120-day compliance windows ordered

A special magistrate in Cocoa Beach on Jan. 21 reopened and reheard case 25-54 concerning construction and permitting activity at 398 West Cocoa Beach Causeway, finding violations of Florida building-code provisions and local accessory-structure rules while pausing any immediate fines to give the respondent time to cure the defects.

The city presented evidence that staff observed an unpermitted parking lot, an unpermitted accessory structure (a shipping-container/Connex-type unit) and earlier trash and debris on the parcel between Jan. 9, 2023, and April 15, 2025. A notice of violation was sent April 15, 2025; a prior hearing in November 2025 found violations and set a compliance date of Nov. 20, 2025 and a potential $250-per-day fine if compliance was not achieved. The city said, as of Feb. 11, 2026, neither a final building permit nor site-plan approval had been issued because submitted materials (particularly the stormwater plan) were insufficient.

Miss Crawford, the city presenter, told the magistrate the FDEP/SJRWMD permit had been uploaded to the project record but that the building permit was still awaiting zoning and engineering approvals…