North of 79th Street or south of it
The 79th Street Causeway leaves the mainland beside the mouth of the Little River, and between them they cut this ZIP's shore in two. Shorecrest and Miami Shores lie north of it; Belle Meade and Bayside lie south. That decides the drawbridges a boat meets.
From Shorecrest, the way north to Haulover passes only the Broad Causeway bascule, 16 feet shut, before the inlet's fixed 32-foot bridge. The way south goes through the 79th Street bascule first. Belle Meade is the reverse: south towards Government Cut there is no drawbridge until the Venetian, and the Julia Tuttle's 56-foot fixed span is the real ceiling, while a trip to Haulover means both bascules. A tall boat on a Belle Meade dock heads south; a small one on a Shorecrest canal heads north.
Six feet in Miami, four in Miami Shores
The City of Miami's code sets 6 feet NAVD88 for any new seawall on tidal water outside the Miami River, and treats a repair as a rebuild once it covers half the wall's length or half the cost of a new one. Shorecrest, Belle Meade and Bayside all fall under that rule.
Cross into Miami Shores and the village's own section 560 applies instead: 4 feet NAVD88 as the minimum, with a recommendation to build footings that can carry 5 feet later. Two neighbouring bay lots can therefore face walls two feet apart in height. Both towns still need Miami-Dade's Class I permit for work in the bay.
Bayside and Belle Meade: a gate or a hearing
Between NE 68th and NE 72nd Streets the Bayside Historic District, designated in 1991, runs from Biscayne Boulevard to the water. In a City of Miami historic district, demolition and new building need a Special Certificate of Appropriateness, reviewed by the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, on top of the usual permits. A buyer planning a teardown there prices in that hearing.
Immediately north, Belle Meade is not a historic district but a gated one, and Belle Meade Island sits behind a second gate with 54 houses. Houses there run from 1920s Spanish Mission to new builds finished this year, and a lot on the island or the bay is valued mainly for its frontage, whatever stands on it.
Above a flood gate, no way out
Not every canal here reaches the bay. The South Florida flood-control canals end at coastal structures: the Biscayne Canal at S-28, and the Little River canal at S-27. A gate is not a lock, so a lot on the landward side of one has no boat route to the ocean at all.
The tidal Little River below its gate is different: yachts tie up along its banks and a boatyard sits 0.6 mile above the mouth. If your lot is on a river or canal, send the address and we will check which side of the structure it is on before we talk price.