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Miami-Dade County

Miami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits Section

In short

Miami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits Section issues 6 permits we publish for Miami-Dade County, last verified 2026-09-27. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Certificate of Use (CU)Miami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits Section2026 schedule (Implementing Order IO-04-111), all figures plus an additional 7.5% RER surcharge reported as a separate line item: Business, Wholesale & Retail (covers restaurant, coffee-shop, retail-store, fitness-studio, salon, veterinary-as-business-use) $0.04/sq ft, minimum $156.17, renewal $80.73 where renewal applies. Industrial (auto-repair, contractor shop/yard, standard use) $0.04/sq ft, minimum $156.17, renewal $80.73; heavy/unusual industrial (junkyards, bulk petroleum, etc.) $647.28 (renewal $234.84) at or under 30,000 sq ft, $924.68 (renewal $342.12) above 30,000 sq ft. Residential-adjacent categories — private/charter school, day nursery, convalescent/nursing home, hospital, ACLF (covers childcare) — $139.44 original, $73.39 annual renewal; home office $36.70, renewal $22.02/yr. CU/TCU field-inspection fee $97.84 per visit, re-inspection $97.84 each. A change of use, business ownership or business name triggers the full original-category fee again. Occupying without a CU adds a $231.90 violation fee plus a doubled CU fee; failing to renew a renewable CU by its due date adds a $220.16 violation fee plus a doubled fee. No refunds once paid.permanent once issued for a normal restaurant, retail store, coffee shop, salon, fitness studio, veterinary clinic, contractor office or auto-repair shop — valid indefinitely absent a change of use, ownership, name or structure; only specific designated categories (childcare/day nursery, private/charter school, nursing/convalescent home, ACLF, home office, and similar) renew annually2026-09-27
Commercial Sign Permitonly if it applies to youMiami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits Section2026 schedule, two separate and additive tracks, each carrying its own 7.5% RER surcharge. Zoning use-permit fee (IO-04-111 §XV.N): Class A sign (temporary), quarterly renewal $140.63; Class B sign (point of sale) $281.25 plus $48.93 inspection fee; new Class C sign (per sign) $843.75, annual renewal per face $57.94; balloon/vinyl sign or panel change $57.94; mural sign, original $405.56, plan revisions $180.25; non-use variance $2,476.83 ($3,302.44 if arising from a violation). Building/Electrical construction-permit fee (IO-04-63, separate line item): non-illuminated signs $1.61/sq ft; illuminated signs/indoor neon $1.59/sq ft; repairs/reconnection $95.00 each; neon strips $3.22 per 5 ft.one-time for most sign types; Class A temporary signs renew quarterly; Class C signs renew annually per face2026-09-27
Certificate of Use for Alcohol Sales (liquor / beer / wine)only if it applies to youMiami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits Section2026 schedule (IO-04-111): restaurant with liquor and/or beer and wine $80.73; restaurant plus lounge/bar $161.45; bar/lounge $80.73; outdoor patio $234.84.one-time; alcohol use must commence within 30 days of the CU/CO's issuance or the CU becomes null and void; will not be renewed while enforcement or Nuisance Abatement Board cases are pending2026-09-27
Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicle — State Preemption under Fla. Stat. §509.102 (Miami-Dade)only if it applies to youMiami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits SectionNo feenot applicable2026-09-27
Child Care Facility License — State DCF License Applies (Miami-Dade)only if it applies to youMiami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits SectionNo feenot applicable2026-09-27
Tattoo / Body Piercing Licensing — State Department of Health Applies (Miami-Dade)only if it applies to youMiami-Dade Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER), Zoning Permits SectionNo feenot applicable2026-09-27

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

Certificate of Use (CU)

A Certificate of Use is required before any commercial occupancy opens for business in Miami-Dade County, and a Certificate of Occupancy from the building permit process is itself a documented prerequisite to the CU. RER's Zoning Permits Section issues the CU directly, start to finish, only for UNINCORPORATED Miami-Dade. Inside any of the County's 35 incorporated municipalities, the sequence runs city-then-county instead: the business first files a Municipal Application for Certificate of Use/Occupational License with its own city, and once the city signs off, that signed application goes to Miami-Dade RER for a separate document, the 'Approval of Municipal Application for Certificate of Use or Business License' — the County's own confirmatory review of Building, DERM, WASD and Fire concerns, distinct from the directly-issued unincorporated-area CU whose fee schedule is quoted above. For most of the ten target industries a normal, unremarkable CU is permanent once issued; childcare's day-nursery category is one of the specific designated categories that instead renews annually. The CU is itself a documented prerequisite to the Local Business Tax Receipt.

Commercial Sign Permit

No sign may be erected, constructed, posted, painted, altered, maintained or relocated in Miami-Dade County without a permit under Code §33-86. Getting one costs two separate, additive fees: a Zoning Division use-permit fee that varies by sign class (for example $843.75 for a new Class C sign, or $140.63 per quarter for a temporary Class A sign) and a Building/Electrical Division construction-permit fee priced per square foot ($1.61/sq ft non-illuminated, $1.59/sq ft illuminated), each carrying its own 7.5% RER surcharge. Repainting, cleaning, and face or copy changes that do not alter a sign's size or structure need no building permit. Sign area and type limits vary by zoning district. Day-to-day sign permitting described here is RER's role for unincorporated Miami-Dade; incorporated cities generally administer their own sign permitting for signs inside city limits, the same split that applies to the Certificate of Use.

Certificate of Use for Alcohol Sales (liquor / beer / wine)

A restaurant, coffee shop or food truck that will sell or serve alcohol needs this county zoning-compliance Certificate of Use before it can apply for its state ABT liquor license — the County's own overview states directly that a business 'must have a Certificate of Use from Miami-Dade County or the specific municipality where the business is located' before applying for the state license. The fee depends on the type of premises: $80.73 for a restaurant serving liquor and/or beer and wine, $161.45 if the restaurant also has a lounge or bar, $80.73 for a stand-alone bar/lounge, and $234.84 for an outdoor patio. Code §33-150 bars an alcohol-sale premises within 1,500 feet of another existing alcohol-sale premises or of a church or school (a special exception is possible), and requires a certified survey showing distances to other alcohol premises within 2,000 feet and to churches/schools within 3,000 feet. Alcohol use must begin within 30 days of the CU or Certificate of Occupancy being issued, or the CU becomes null and void. The alcoholic beverage license itself is issued by the Florida DBPR's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, a state credential outside this county file's scope.

Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicle — State Preemption under Fla. Stat. §509.102 (Miami-Dade)

No fee applies at the county level for food-safety licensing. Florida Statutes §509.102 preempts mobile food dispensing vehicle licenses, registrations, permits and fees to the state, and bars a local government from prohibiting an MFDV from operating anywhere in its jurisdiction; the food-safety license itself is the state DBPR Mobile Food Dispensing Vehicle license. Miami-Dade County's role for a food truck is limited to zoning and location: a Certificate of Use covering a fixed or regular vending location, or a Food Truck Roundup Certificate of Use for a multi-vendor private-property event, both administered by RER; confirm any fee for those certificates with RER. The FOG discharge permit, recorded as a separate requirement, reaches a food truck's fixed commissary kitchen, not the truck itself, and is a DERM environmental permit rather than a food-safety license.

Child Care Facility License — State DCF License Applies (Miami-Dade)

No fee applies at the county level. The Florida Department of Children and Families' Child Care Licensure page states that DCF licenses child care facilities and homes in 63 of Florida's 67 counties and names the four counties that have elected to license under §402.306, Florida Statutes, as Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota; Miami-Dade is not among them, so DCF licenses child care facilities in Miami-Dade directly. Miami-Dade's Community Action and Human Services Department administers childcare financial assistance, Head Start and school-readiness subsidies, but not licensing. A childcare centre in unincorporated Miami-Dade still needs the standard commercial requirements recorded as separate requirements — a Certificate of Use (priced under the residential-adjacent/day-nursery category), a building permit and Certificate of Occupancy, and an MDFR Life Safety Operating Permit under the Day Care Occupancy fee tier — while the childcare license itself comes from DCF.

Tattoo / Body Piercing Licensing — State Department of Health Applies (Miami-Dade)

No fee applies at the county level. Tattooing is regulated by the State of Florida under §§381.00771-381.00791, Florida Statutes; §381.00791 states that those sections do not preempt additional county or municipal regulation, and no Miami-Dade County tattoo or piercing permit is published. State regulation is administered locally through the Florida Department of Health's Miami-Dade County field office — a state agency's local office, not a Miami-Dade County government department. A salon that also offers tattooing or piercing needs the standard commercial requirements recorded as separate requirements (Certificate of Use, building permit, MDFR Life Safety Operating Permit) for its premises, plus the state license for the tattoo or piercing activity itself.

Contact

Jurisdiction
Miami-Dade County
Phone
786-315-2660

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

  1. Certificate of Use / Certificate of Occupancy overviewMiami-Dade County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. Certificate of Use application — alcohol (form 123_01-363, rev. 4/25)Miami-Dade RER · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. Certificate of Use ePlan portal guideMiami-Dade RER · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  4. Certificate of Use for alcohol sales — overview; 'You must have a Certificate of Use from Miami-Dade County or the specific municipality where the business is located' before applying for a state liquor licenseMiami-Dade County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  5. Child care licensure — confirms only Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota counties self-license under §402.306, Fla. Stat.; Miami-Dade is licensed directly by DCFFlorida Department of Children and Families · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-05
  6. County-Municipal Approval process — the city-then-county CU/business-license sequence inside incorporated municipalitiesMiami-Dade County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  7. Florida Statutes §402.306 — county licensing option for child care facilitiesFlorida Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  8. Florida Statutes §509.102 — state preemption of mobile food dispensing vehicle licenses, registrations, permits and feesFlorida Senate · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  9. Implementing Order IO-04-111, RER Zoning fee schedule (Certificate of Use, sign use-permits, alcohol-use CU), ordered June 16, 2026, effective June 26, 2026Miami-Dade RER · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  10. Implementing Order IO-04-63, RER Building fee schedule (building permits, Certificate of Occupancy), ordered June 16, 2026, effective June 26, 2026Miami-Dade RER · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  11. Miami-Dade County Code §33-150, 'Location of establishments' (alcohol-sale distance buffers)Municode / Miami-Dade County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27
  12. Tattooing regulation — administered by the Florida Department of Health's Miami-Dade County field office, a state functionFlorida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-27

Other offices serving Miami-Dade County

The full permit list for this jurisdiction

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Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.