Pinellas County
In-Law Suite Additions in Clearwater, Sized for Level One
A Clearwater ADU goes through a Level One review rather than a simple permit, so size it to the city's cap before paying for plans and the review has less to question. Clearwater caps an ADU at 750 square feet or half the main home's floor area, whichever is less, and an attached unit's entrance must not be visible from the street.
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Who the space is for, whether it needs a kitchen, and the address. With those three answers we can say which city or county rules govern the lot before a contractor draws anything.
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Clearwater's Level One review and the half-the-house cap
Clearwater issues its own permits and treats an ADU as a Level One flexible standard use in its low and low-medium density residential districts, one per parcel where density conforms. The half-the-house test is the one that catches people: a 1,200 square foot home allows a 600 square foot unit, not 750, so measure the main house before choosing between a cottage and a bedroom wing. For an attached suite, plan the entrance on the side or back. The city skews older, with 28.2 percent of residents aged 62 or older, and more than half its homes were built before 1980. Flood is a parcel question here: Clearwater's NFIP record runs to 2,951 claims, 1,472 of them in 2024, and the Property Appraiser's FEMA letter for the parcel shows the structure value any addition is measured against. The county's parent or grandparent reduction stops at the city line.
How big is the Clearwater house now?
Give us the main home's square footage. Half of it may be your ADU ceiling, and that is worth knowing before a layout exists.
Parent suites and cottages arranged in Clearwater
In-Law Suite Additions
Add a bedroom, a bathroom and a sitting room onto the house so a parent can live with you and still close a door of their own, planned so the kitchen decision does not turn it into a second dwelling by accident.
In-Law Suites in Clearwater →First-Floor Primary Suite Additions
Put a bedroom and a bathroom on the ground floor for someone who can no longer manage the stairs, without the addition pulling the whole house under current flood rules.
First-Floor Suites in Clearwater →Detached ADUs and Backyard Cottages
Put a small, separate home in the backyard for a parent, close enough to help and far enough for their own front door, under the rules that actually govern the lot.
Detached ADUs in Clearwater →Clearwater's ADU standard and flood claim record
Clearwater treats an accessory dwelling unit as a Level One flexible standard use in its low and low-medium density residential districts, capped at 750 square feet or 50 percent of the principal dwelling's gross floor area, whichever is less, one per parcel with conforming density, with entrances to attached units not visible from the street.
Source: City of Clearwater (Municode), accessed 2026-09-23
St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Seminole and Tarpon Springs each operate their own building departments, per the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board's directory updated January 2025.
Source: Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board, accessed 2026-09-23
The 2020-2024 American Community Survey estimates Clearwater's median age at 46.6, with 24.1 percent of residents aged 65 or older and 28.2 percent aged 62 or older, compared with 26.4 percent aged 65 or older in Pinellas County. Of its 61,123 housing units, 55.9 percent were built before 1980 and 15.9 percent in 2000 or later.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, accessed 2026-09-23
OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims data (as of September 2026) records, by NFIP community, with records beginning in 1978: St. Petersburg 16,189 claims (8,670 in 2024, $1,266.6 million paid in total); Clearwater 2,951 claims (1,472 in 2024, $231.5 million paid in total); Dunedin 1,601 claims (791 in 2024, $123.0 million paid in total); Tarpon Springs 1,415 claims (717 in 2024, $56.3 million paid in total); Largo 781 claims (497 in 2024, $78.6 million paid in total); Pinellas Park 895 claims (228 in 2024, $15.9 million paid in total); Oldsmar 776 claims (454 in 2024, $40.5 million paid in total); Seminole 223 claims (180 in 2024, $13.9 million paid in total); Safety Harbor 147 claims (61 in 2024, $5.2 million paid in total).
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (OpenFEMA), accessed 2026-09-23
The Pinellas County Property Appraiser publishes a FEMA/WLM letter for each parcel, reached from the Quick Pick Tool box on the parcel page, showing the structure value used for 50 percent or 49 percent determinations.
Source: Pinellas County Property Appraiser, accessed 2026-09-23
Because the Pinellas County parent or grandparent reduction requires the property to be in unincorporated Pinellas County, homesteads inside St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Seminole, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs and Oldsmar do not qualify under the county program as the Property Appraiser describes it.
Source: Pinellas County Property Appraiser, accessed 2026-09-23
Start the Clearwater suite with the review in mind
Tell us who will live in it and where on the lot it would go. We match you with a licensed contractor and note what a Level One review will look at.