Driveways
Decorative concrete driveways in Punta Gorda
Shellcrete by SRQ Modern pours decorative concrete driveways in Punta Gorda with the shell exposed in the surface, and the City has thought about driveways more than most. Its land development regulations say a driveway in a single-family district is concrete or concrete pavers, and they say just as plainly that marl, shell or gravel driveways are not permitted.
That rule is about loose material spread on the ground. A shell finish is cast into the concrete and bound in it, which is why it can be a driveway here at all. The base, the thickness and the joints are on the Shellcrete driveways page; what follows is what only applies in Punta Gorda.
A permit and a drawing first
In Punta Gorda it is unlawful to build any driveway without a permit from the City's Building Division, and the application carries a driveway plan showing the drive approach, its size and how it meets the existing pavement. Every driveway apron in the City's right-of-way is at least four inches of reinforced concrete.
The apron is also where the City draws its line on decoration. Brick pavers, tile, decorative overlays, colour coats and finishes on an apron in the right-of-way are additions on top of that four-inch slab, and the City will not replace them if it takes the apron out for authorized work. An overlay thicker than a quarter of an inch that is not built with a permitted driveway means replacing the apron, so the drainage levels come out right.
How wide, by frontage
Width follows the street frontage. With up to 80 feet on one street, all the driveways together are no wider than 28 feet, and no single drive is wider than 24 feet at the property line and through the right-of-way. With more than 80 feet, one drive is still capped at 24 feet and the total is 35 percent of the frontage, up to 48 feet. A corner lot gets one drive on its second street, no wider than 24 feet.
A third driveway takes a special exception and at least 150 feet of frontage on one street. And no part of a single-family drive except its flare comes closer than 25 feet to the point where two streets' right-of-way lines meet.
Flares, swales and the pipe under the drive
The grassed strip between the property line and the road is the swale, and the City treats it as a drainage facility. A driveway's flares, and any culvert pipe under it, reach no more than three feet past each side of the drive and never beyond the property line. The flares run from the road up to the swale, or ten feet from the road's edge, whichever is less.
Paved area is capped as well: on a single-family lot, impervious surface stops at 60 percent of the land, and swales are kept in solid sod. A shell finish counts as hard surface like any other concrete, so we measure the lot before drawing a wider drive.
Canal lots and the walk to the seawall
Punta Gorda Isles and Burnt Store Isles put the water behind the house, and the City has a rule for that path too. With a building permit, a five-foot walkway in concrete, pavers or another material may run from the rear of the house to the seawall, the number of walks set by the width of the lot.
Pouring that walk in the same finish as the driveway keeps the lot reading as one surface from the street to the dock. Before it goes in, the seawall is worth a look: pool decks in Punta Gorda explains what a settling slab near the water usually means.
The historic district and the county line
In the City's historic district, a designated property needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before anything is built, altered or restored on it, and the City's definition of a structure takes in driveways, walkways and paving. So a driveway on a designated property is reviewed for how it looks as well as permitted.
A Punta Gorda mailing address outside the city limits answers to Charlotte County instead. The County's right-of-way permit covers driveway installation, reinstallation and resurfacing, and its standards keep a single-family drive there between 10 and 24 feet wide in the right-of-way, in asphalt or concrete.
An hour and a quarter from the yard
Our yard and showroom are on 14th Street West in Bradenton, about 61 miles from Punta Gorda City Hall, around an hour and a quarter by I-75 in light traffic. A driveway here is planned as one job, permit and all, before the crew sets out.
On the far side of the Peace River, Port Charlotte answers to the County for its decks as well.
In salt air the sealer matters more than usual; sealing a shell surface covers what to use and what to leave off.
Driveways questions we get in Punta Gorda
Is a shell driveway allowed in Punta Gorda?
A bound one, yes. The City's code bans marl, shell and gravel driveways, which means loose material spread on the ground. A Shellcrete driveway is concrete with the shell cast into its surface, and single-family drives in the City are concrete or concrete pavers. At the street the City's four-inch reinforced concrete apron comes first, and any finish on top of it is an addition the City will not replace.
How wide can a driveway be in Punta Gorda?
It depends on the frontage. Up to 80 feet on one street, the drives together stop at 28 feet and none is wider than 24 feet at the property line and through the right-of-way. Over 80 feet, one drive is still 24 feet at most and the total is 35 percent of the frontage, up to 48 feet. The exposed shell finish looks the same at any width.
Do I need a permit to resurface a driveway?
In the City, building any driveway takes a permit from the Building Division, and an overlay thicker than a quarter inch on the apron that is not part of a permitted driveway means replacing the apron. Outside the city limits, Charlotte County's right-of-way permit covers resurfacing as well as new drives. We include the permit in the job, so it is on the quote rather than discovered later.
Worth reading first
- Concrete pool deck ideas for Florida: colour, grip, joints and edgesConcrete pool deck ideas sorted by the decisions that matter in Florida: colour for heat, texture for grip, joints as pattern, the coping edge, borders, turf and what goes in before the pour.
- Exposed aggregate concrete vs exposed shell in Florida: how they differExposed aggregate and exposed shell are the same technique with a different stone. How they differ barefoot, in colour, and in cleaning and sealing on a Florida driveway or pool deck.
- Pool deck drainage in Florida: why water sits and what fixes itWhy water sits on a pool deck, how to tell a fall problem from a clogged drain or a settled slab, and what a new surface can correct once the drains are sound.
- Pool coping in Florida: which material belongs on the edge of your poolWhat pool coping does, how travertine, pavers, poured cantilever and precast edges compare on grip and heat, and how the coping has to meet the tile and the deck.
