Dock, Boat Lift and Seawall Contractor in Palmetto, Florida

Palmetto sits on the north bank of the Manatee River, directly across from Bradenton, with Terra Ceia Bay behind it and Snead Island at the river mouth. Anderson Dock and Lift Co. builds docks, installs boat lifts and repairs seawalls on all three. Owner Pete Anderson holds Florida certified specialty contractor license SCC131152520, and is a combat veteran with 24 years in the Army and Air Force. The company is veteran owned and operated.

The three water bodies do not ask the same thing of a structure. A Manatee River lot faces open water with a fetch that runs west toward Tampa Bay and the Gulf. A Terra Ceia Bay lot sits inside a state aquatic preserve, with seagrass, thin water and tighter state rules about what can be built over it. We estimate each one on its own terms.

The Water in Palmetto

Palmetto fronts the lower Manatee River, which runs west past Emerson Point on Snead Island into lower Tampa Bay, then to the Intracoastal Waterway through Anna Maria Sound. Behind the city, Terra Ceia Bay covers about 3,868 acres and is both a state aquatic preserve and Outstanding Florida Waters, with wide seagrass flats and mangrove shoreline. A dredged cut between Palmetto and Snead Island joins the bay to the river, carrying about four to five feet and passing under a fixed bridge charted at 13 feet, while Terra Ceia Bay also has its own marked entrance channel west into lower Tampa Bay. Tides are small: the NOAA gage on the Manatee River at Bradenton shows a mean range of 1.65 feet and a great diurnal range of 2.24 feet.

Waterfront areas we cover: Snead Island, Terra Ceia Island, Terra Ceia Bay shoreline, Riviera Dunes, Sanctuary Cove, Palmetto Skyway, Downtown Palmetto riverfront near Regatta Pointe.

Docks and piers built for the Manatee River's exposure

North bank lots in Palmetto face south and west across open river, so the daily variable on a dock here is wind chop and boat wake more than tide. Mean range at the Bradenton gage is 1.65 feet, which means a fixed deck can sit close to a constant working height. Storm surge is the sizing problem instead. Manatee County reported peak surge between about 5.5 and 7 feet during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. We set pilings for that load rather than the daily tide, and we finish decks in composite (Trex, TimberTech AZEK, WearDeck, Deckorators) so the surface holds up to salt spray and full sun. Piling wraps go on below the deck to protect the wood at the waterline.

Boat lifts sized to Palmetto's shallow approaches

Lift height and beam get decided by where the boat has to go, not just what it weighs. A boat kept on the Terra Ceia Bay side has two ways out. The dredged cut between Palmetto and Snead Island is the short way to the Manatee River, and it carries about four to five feet under a fixed bridge charted at 13 feet, so it rules out taller rigs and deeper hulls. The other way is west out the marked Terra Ceia Bay entrance channel into lower Tampa Bay, which runs 9 to 13 feet but shoals to about 5 to 6 feet at its shallowest marked reach. Which route a boat can use changes what lift and what beam make sense. Boats kept upriver of the DeSoto and Green bridges have to clear both on the way to Tampa Bay, and both are charted at 40 feet. We install jet ski and PWC lifts, pontoon lifts, sailboat lifts and large yacht lifts from Sea Mount, Hurricane and Deco, and we set cradle height off the low water at your slip rather than a county average.

Seawalls, tiebacks and retaining walls on this shoreline

Shoreline structures on the north bank take the same surge load the docks do. Manatee County recorded peak surge between about 5.5 and 7 feet during Hurricane Helene in September 2024, and that is the case a wall and its tiebacks get sized against. Section 403.813(1)(e), Florida Statutes, exempts restoration of a seawall at its previous location, upland of it, or within 18 inches waterward of it from state environmental permitting, which is why replacement in kind is usually the cleanest path. That exemption does not remove chapter 161 coastal construction review or the local building permit. On Terra Ceia Bay the aquatic preserve rule is tighter for use of state-owned submerged lands: restoration is exempt from consent of use only at the previous location, upland of it, or within one foot waterward. Aquatic preserve rules also list conversion of a vertical bulkhead to riprap as habitat restoration, so that review reads differently there. We do new seawall construction, repair, tiebacks, inspections and maintenance, plus retaining wall installation and repair.

What the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve changes about a dock

Terra Ceia Bay is a state aquatic preserve and Outstanding Florida Waters, and the preserve boundary wraps around Emerson Point at the tip of Snead Island. That changes dock design before anything is drawn. Under the state aquatic preserve rule, a private single-family access walkway is limited to four feet wide, the structure is not to extend past minus four feet at mean low water, and the terminal platform is capped at 160 square feet. If the terminal platform lands in Resource Protection Area 1 or 2, the rule requires it to be elevated at least five feet above mean or ordinary high water, with up to a quarter of its surface allowed lower for water and vessel access. Decking has to be built for maximum light penetration. The state dock exemption threshold also drops to 500 square feet of over-water area in Outstanding Florida Waters. We design to those numbers on the Terra Ceia side instead of finding out at review.

Permits in Palmetto

Who issues them: City of Palmetto Building Department under Chapter 10 of the city code (Coastal Areas and Waterways) for addresses inside the city limits; Manatee County under Land Development Code Section 511.17 for unincorporated addresses; FDEP Southwest District (Temple Terrace) for the Environmental Resource Permit and consent to use state-owned submerged lands; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the State Programmatic General Permit; SWFWMD for stormwater and upland activities that fall outside FDEP's share of the operating agreement.

Inside the city, docks and seawalls are permitted through the Palmetto Building Department at 601 17th Street W, and Chapter 10 of the city code requires copies of every outside agency approval to be filed with the building official. Unincorporated addresses go through Manatee County, which requires an Administrative Permit under Land Development Code Section 511.17. On the state side, FDEP rather than SWFWMD reviews docks, piers and shore protection structures under the 2007 operating agreement, and FDEP also grants use of state-owned submerged lands. Which of those apply turns on your address and your shoreline, so it is worth settling before design.

What We Build and Repair

Frequently Asked Questions

Anderson Dock & Lift is based in Bradenton and works across Florida’s Gulf Coast. See every town we cover, or call (941) 720-6733 for a free estimate within 24 business hours.