North Bay Road and the Julia Tuttle line
North Bay Road follows the bay shore through much of Mid-Beach, and the Julia Tuttle Causeway lands on Miami Beach partway along it. That one causeway decides how tall a boat can be on a North Bay Road dock and still reach the sea without an opening bridge.
Below it, you run south to the Venetian Causeway's drawbridge on the Intracoastal and then under the MacArthur's 65-foot span. Above it, you pass under the Tuttle first: 35 feet at its eastern span, 56 at the main span over the Intracoastal. The alternative for a lot north of the causeway is to go north through the 79th Street and Broad Causeway drawbridges to Haulover, but the A1A bridge over that inlet is fixed at 32 feet.
For most owners none of this matters. For a buyer with a 70-foot sportfisherman it is the whole question, which is why we ask for the exact address before we talk numbers.
Sunset Islands: shallow water on the way to deep
The Sunset Islands sit south of the Julia Tuttle and north of the Venetian Causeway, off the Sunset Harbour neighbourhood. The water out of them is Sunset Harbor Channel, a privately marked channel that joins Miami Beach Channel just north of Belle Isle.
The Coast Pilot's last figure for it was 6 feet in 1991, with patches to 3 feet near Daybeacon 30. Those are old soundings and channels change, so we would rather see a recent survey of your frontage and the approach than guess. Depth at the dock and in the channel matters as much as bridge height for a big boat.
- Sunset Harbor Channel: 6 ft (1991), lesser depths near Daybeacon 30
- Miami Beach Channel north of the Tuttle: 7 ft reported (1983), shoaling to 3 ft near Daybeacon 22
- Miami Beach Channel south to Meloy Channel: 9 ft reported (1983)
Indian Creek and Collins Canal: fixed spans at both ends
Indian Creek runs north through Miami Beach from Collins Canal, which leaves its south end alongside the Miami Beach continuation of the Venetian Causeway. Every bridge over the creek south of Allison Island is fixed, with about 12 feet of clearance, and the Collins Canal bridges give only 5.
If your dock is on the creek, or on water that only reaches the bay through it, the lot is still on the water and still in our box. It just belongs in the fixed-bridge category: good for a centre-console or a low express cruiser, not for a flybridge. We price it as what it is.
Miami Beach's 730-day seawall clock
Under the city's 2025 seawall ordinance, once a seawall repair costs $500 or more per linear foot it counts as substantial, and the wall has to come up to 5.7 feet NAVD88. Below that threshold the minimum is 4.0 feet, provided the wall is built so it can be raised to 5.7 later.
The part owners miss is the deadline. If the city cites a wall that lets tidal water onto a neighbour or the street, the owner has 730 days from the citation to design, permit and finish the fix. If you are holding a cited lot you do not plan to build on, selling it with the problem attached is a normal thing to do.