Government Land for Lease in Florida: Types, Fees, and How to Apply

Government land for lease in Florida falls into two main buckets: sovereignty submerged lands beneath the state’s coastal and inland waters, and upland parcels held for conservation or other public purposes. Most leases run through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), aquaculture leases run through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), and every lease ends with the Governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, signing off.¹

Who You’ll Actually Deal With

The Board of Trustees holds title to state lands under Section 253.03 of the Florida Statutes and makes the final leasing decision in open meeting. You won’t negotiate with the Board directly. The DEP’s Division of State Lands processes most applications, calculates fees, monitors compliance, and handles renewals.¹ If you’re applying for an aquaculture lease on sovereignty submerged lands, FDACS runs the intake, conducts the site survey, and enforces compliance through annual audits.²

What You Can Lease

Sovereignty Submerged Lands

These are the tidal lands, islands, sandbars, and shallow banks lying waterward of the mean or ordinary high water line. State ownership extends three nautical miles into the Atlantic and nine into the Gulf of Mexico. Florida Administrative Code Chapter 18-21 governs their use, and activities are limited to water-dependent purposes with minimal secondary non-water-dependent use, unless the Board grants a public-interest exception.³

Typical uses include private residential or commercial docks and piers, marinas, mooring fields, and aquaculture operations. The Board can also lease submerged lands for oil, gas, and mineral extraction under separate provisions of Chapter 253.⁴

Upland State Lands

Upland parcels include conservation lands acquired through programs like Florida Forever and Preservation 2000, along with non-conservation state-owned lands. Chapter 18-2 of the Florida Administrative Code governs leasing of these parcels for purposes like agriculture, grazing, public recreation, and resource extraction. Governmental entities can lease conservation lands for public recreation at $300 per year, subject to Acquisition and Restoration Council approval.⁵

One point worth clearing up: Florida Forever is a land acquisition program, not a leasing program. It has purchased more than one million acres of conservation land since 2000, and some of those parcels may later be leased for compatible purposes, but you don’t apply to “Florida Forever” for a lease.⁶

Common Lease Types in Detail

Marina and Dock Leases

Marina leases are among the most common sovereignty submerged land leases. If at least 90 percent of a marina’s slips are open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, the facility qualifies for a 10-year lease term instead of the standard five, plus a 30 percent discount on the annual lease fee. The marina has to clearly advertise that slips are available for public rental.⁷

Facilities designated as a Clean Marina, Clean Boatyard, or Clean Marine Retailer under the DEP’s Clean Marina Program earn an additional 10 percent fee discount and may qualify for a waiver of extended-term surcharges, so long as they keep the designation and stay in compliance.⁷

Aquaculture Leases

FDACS has designated 26 Aquaculture Use Zones across 10 coastal counties. Shellfish aquaculture leases must sit in an Approved or Conditionally Approved Shellfish Harvesting Area, and the proposed site cannot contain seagrasses, corals, or harvestable shellfish resources.²

The maximum initial term is 10 years, renewable for successive terms of the same length. The Board will not lease a larger area than you have shown you can use efficiently, though successful experimental work can serve as proof of your capacity to operate commercially.⁸

Agricultural and Grazing Leases

Agricultural and grazing leases apply to upland state lands under Chapter 18-2. Lessees submit a certified agricultural operational report to the Division of State Lands annually, one month before the lease year ends. The report has to detail crop or livestock type and location, stewardship practices, capital improvements, pesticide and fertilizer use, and how best management practices were implemented that year.⁹

Conservation Leases

Conservation leases cover state lands acquired for environmental preservation. Lessees must prepare parcel-specific management plans under Section 253.034(5) of the Florida Statutes, and no physical alteration of the land is permitted until the plan is approved.⁹

How to Apply

Sovereignty Submerged Lands

Applying to lease sovereignty submerged lands uses a joint application that covers both the environmental resource permit and the authorization to use state-owned submerged land. The DEP combines these onto a single form, which also incorporates the federal dredge-and-fill permit where applicable.¹⁰

Your application has to include:

Name, address, email, and phone for the applicant and any authorized agent.
Location details: county, section/township/range, affected waterbody, and a scaled aerial photograph of the vicinity.
Evidence you own or hold sufficient interest in the adjacent upland property.
A survey or sketch prepared by a Florida-registered Professional Surveyor and Mapper showing the mean high water line, shoreline vegetation, existing and proposed structures, riparian rights lines, navigation channels, and a legal description of the area to be leased. A full survey is required at 3,000 square feet or larger; a sketch suffices below that threshold.
A non-refundable processing fee of $200 for a private residential single-family dock or pier, or $500 for all other facilities. Both adjust annually on March 1 based on a five-year Consumer Price Index average, capped at a 10 percent yearly increase.
Billing and noticing information as required by the applicable administrative code provisions.

¹¹

Applications in the Florida Keys must also show water depths referenced to mean low water within the lease area and out to the navigation channel. If the parcel sits inside an Aquatic Preserve, you must describe the shoreline condition along the lease area and 1,000 feet on each side.¹¹

Aquaculture

Aquaculture applicants take a separate path through FDACS. You first obtain an Aquaculture Certificate of Registration, then complete a lease application through the FDACS online portal. FDACS staff conduct a resource survey of the proposed site to determine whether it meets Chapter 18-21. If the site passes, the application is publicly noticed in local newspapers. The comprehensive review can take six months or more, and final authorization still requires approval by the Governor and Cabinet as the Board of Trustees.²

Public Notice and Comment

Once the agency receives a complete application, it must provide public notice identifying the applicant, describing the proposed activity and any mitigation, giving the location (including whether it sits in an Outstanding Florida Water or aquatic preserve), and showing a map and diagram. A copy goes to every landowner within 500 feet of the parcel, plus anyone on the agency’s notification mailing list.¹²

If substantive objections come in, the DEP or the relevant water management district may hold an informal public hearing in the county where the activity is proposed. The agency weighs all comments before deciding whether the lease would be contrary to the public interest. Applications for sovereignty submerged lands must be approved, denied, or submitted to the Board for decision within 90 days of receipt of a complete application.¹

Lease Length, Fees, and What Renewal Looks Like

Terms

For sovereignty submerged land leases, the standard initial term is five years. Private residential docks and marinas with at least 90 percent public-access slips qualify for 10-year terms, and some facilities may qualify for terms up to 25 years if they meet the criteria in FAC Rule 18-21.008(2)(a).⁵

Aquaculture leases cap at 10 years, renewable by agreement for successive terms of the same maximum length.⁸

For upland state lands generally, the term cannot exceed what the statute calls “necessary to provide for the reasonable use of the land for the existing or planned life cycle or amortization of the improvements.” The Board ties the term to how long it takes you to recoup your investment, not to an arbitrary ceiling. Perpetual easements are available only for transportation facilities.¹²

Fees

Annual fees for sovereignty submerged land leases are the greater of two calculations: the lease area in square feet multiplied by a rate factor, or 6 percent of gross revenue received from use of the state-owned property. The rate factor updates every March 1 based on a five-year Consumer Price Index average. Public-access marinas get the 30 percent discount described above, and Clean Marina designees can stack another 10 percent off.⁵

The first annual fee is assessed on the date the lease is executed and due within 30 days. After that, fees come due on the lease’s anniversary. Every leaseholder must report revenue annually, whether or not any revenue was actually generated.¹¹

Aquaculture fees are simpler. Bottom leases cost $16.73 per acre (or fraction of an acre) per year, plus a $10-per-acre surcharge. Water column leases cost $33.46 per acre plus the same $10 surcharge. All aquaculture fees are due January 1.² The first year’s rental is due within 30 days of the lease execution date, and missing that or any subsequent anniversary payment by more than 30 days gives the Board grounds to cancel the lease and forfeit all improvements, works, and marine life on the leased area to the state.⁸

Governmental entities leasing conservation uplands for public recreation pay the $300 annual administrative fee noted earlier.⁵

Assignment and Renewal

Aquaculture leases can be assigned in whole or in part only with Board approval.⁸ For other sovereignty submerged land leases, assignments to a new upland owner go through the Division of State Lands. All fees must be current and all income reported before the Division will process any modification, renewal, or assignment.⁵

Environmental Standards You’ll Have to Meet

Sovereignty submerged lands are treated as single-use lands under FAC Rule 18-21.004, managed primarily for maintaining natural conditions, fish and wildlife propagation, and traditional recreation like fishing, boating, and swimming. Activities that would cause significant adverse impacts cannot be approved unless there’s no reasonable alternative and the applicant proposes adequate mitigation. Cutting or destroying wetland vegetation must be minimized, dredging limited to the minimum necessary, and shoreline stabilization should prioritize native wetland vegetation over seawalls. Fill below the high water line is generally prohibited unless needed for shoreline stabilization, navigable water access, or public water management projects.³

For aquaculture, FDACS imposes habitat-specific restrictions. The site cannot contain seagrasses, corals, or harvestable shellfish resources. Critical habitats for species like Gulf sturgeon, smalltooth sawfish, and loggerhead turtles trigger further restrictions that may require site modification or rejection.²

For upland state lands, every activity must implement the best management practices selected or approved by the Board or the managing agency, and any approval carries whatever terms, conditions, and restrictions the Board deems necessary to protect the uplands.⁹

What You Have to Keep Doing After Signing

A Florida state land lease comes with ongoing obligations. Conservation land lessees must prepare and submit parcel-specific management plans to the Division of State Lands, and no physical alteration is allowed until the plan is approved. Non-conservation upland lessees prepare land use plans under the same framework. Oil, gas, and mineral lessees must file a notarized annual report documenting operations; missing the deadline by more than 90 days past the lease anniversary is grounds for termination.⁹

Every sovereignty submerged land leaseholder has to report revenue annually using the self-report form mailed with the base invoice, even when no revenue was generated. The form has to be completed and returned in compliance with the lease terms.⁵

Aquaculture leaseholders must comply with Aquaculture Best Management Practices and complete annual audit forms mailed each January. Shellfish operations receive a Shellfish Audit form; live rock operations receive a Live Rock Audit form. Lease parcels must also be marked with specific signage, and failing to perform effective cultivation is grounds for cancellation and forfeiture of all improvements and marine life on the leased land.²

A note on timing: new construction or additional preemption of state lands cannot begin until the lease is formally executed. Starting work early or expanding beyond your approved lease area puts you in violation from the first day, and leases include provisions allowing the Board to impose whatever further terms and restrictions it deems necessary.³

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 253.03 – Board of Trustees; Powers and Duties
2
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Aquaculture Submerged Land Leasing
3
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code 18-21.004 – Management Policies, Standards, and Criteria
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code Chapter 253 – State Lands
5
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. FAQ – Use of State-Owned Land
6
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Florida Forever
7
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 253.0346 – Lease of Sovereignty Submerged Lands for Marinas, Boatyards, Mooring Fields, and Marine Manufacturers and Retailers
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 253.71 – The Lease Contract
9
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code 18-2.018 – State-Owned Uplands Management
10
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Joint Application for Environmental Resource Permit and Authorization to Use State-Owned Submerged Lands
11
Justia. Florida Administrative Code 18-21.008 – Applications for Lease
12
Online Sunshine. Florida Code Chapter 253 – State Lands