Gifford Dock Park (45th Street Dock)

Gifford Dock Park and the 45th Street Dock are one county park, listed at Gifford Dock Road, Vero Beach, FL 32967, on the west shore of the Indian River Lagoon.

Indian River County's own page for the site carries the heading Gifford Dock, gives the address as Gifford Dock Road, Vero Beach, FL 32967, and labels the park itself 45th Street Dock (Indian River County, Gifford Dock page). The same county page says Gifford Dock Park, also known as the 45th Street Dock, has long served as a gateway to the water for the Gifford community. On the county's alphabetical Parks and Beaches list the entry appears under G as Gifford Dock, with a map link to a county ArcGIS viewer rather than a street number (Indian River County Parks and Beaches list).

The county's 2014 Gifford Neighborhood Plan fixes the location more precisely: Gifford Dock Park is located at the east end of 45th Street on the west shore of the Indian River Lagoon (Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014, recreation facilities). The plan's boundary description adds that the dock park on the west side of the lagoon is considered part of the Gifford Neighborhood area, although the park is not contiguous to the rest of the plan area, whose main boundaries are 66th Avenue, 41st Street, US Highway One and 49th Street.

The road to the water has its own designation. The county comprehensive plan's recreation element defines Gifford Dock Road as North Gifford Road (45th Street), from US 1 to the Indian River Lagoon, including the dock site (Comprehensive Plan Chapter 10, Recreation and Open Space). Last verified: October 22, 2026, against the county's 45th Street Dock page, its Parks and Beaches list, the 2014 Gifford plan and its update page, comprehensive plan Chapter 10 and the FWC saltwater license page.

Gifford Dock Park is a small lagoon access point for fishing from its pier and for launching kayaks, canoes and paddleboards, with parking as the only other listed amenity.

On size, the county page says only Small park with easy access to the lagoon; it lists two amenities, Fishing Pier and Parking (Gifford Dock amenities, Indian River County). Its description names the activities the county expects there: fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding, in what the county calls one of North America's most biologically diverse estuaries. The 2014 Gifford plan describes the same facilities in plainer terms, a stabilized parking area, and a dock/pier that is used for fishing (Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014).

For anglers, the county page names the inshore species it expects off the 45th Street Dock: snook, redfish, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, and mangrove snapper (Gifford Dock description). For paddlers, it says they can launch directly into calm waters and explore shoreline and mangrove habitats, and it names dolphins, manatees, pelicans and herons among frequent wildlife sightings from the Gifford Dock. The Gifford Dock amenity list names only the fishing pier and parking.

The county page lists Gifford Dock Park as open 24 hours, and it also prints the countywide park rules that bar overnight parking and trespassing when a park is closed.

Both statements sit on the same Indian River County page for the Gifford Dock (Gifford Dock hours and rules). The hours line reads Open 24 hours. The rules block that follows, which appears on county park pages generally, cites sections of County Ordinance 205.03 and is reproduced below as printed for the 45th Street Dock.

The Gifford Dock page carries Open 24 hours in its hours line and No overnight parking and No trespassing when park is closed in its rules block (Indian River County, Gifford Dock page). The contact block at the foot of the dock page lists county administration at 1801 27th Street, Vero Beach FL 32960, 772 567 8000, with general office hours of 8:30 am to 5:00 pm each weekday (Closed Sat & Sun).

The pet rule is the first line of that block, and as printed it covers any County Park, with no exception listed for the dock (county rule 205.03.22 as printed for Gifford Dock).

Snook, the first species the county lists for the Gifford Dock, needs a Florida saltwater fishing license plus a snook permit under FWC rules, and FWC also offers a shoreline-only license for fishing from land or a shore-fixed structure.

For the Gifford Dock pier, the FWC page to read is Recreational Saltwater Licenses and Permits, which says anyone taking, or trying to take, saltwater fish, crabs, clams, marine plants or any other saltwater organism needs a saltwater fishing license (FWC Recreational Saltwater Licenses and Permits). Its Saltwater Shoreline-Only Fishing License covers saltwater fishing done from the shoreline or from a structure affixed to shore, but not fishing from a vessel. For a Florida resident, FWC lists the annual shoreline license as No-Cost, and the general saltwater license prices appear in the table. FWC says its listed prices include an issuance fee allowed by Florida Statute and that a license vendor may also charge an issuance fee of 50¢.

On snook, FWC says the permit is required, in addition to a saltwater fishing license, including shoreline fishing, and it advises checking current regulations in the area before buying (FWC snook permit entry). FWC adds a shore-based shark fishing permit for anglers age 16 and up who target sharks from shore, with jetties, bridges and piers counted as shore, and it lists no permit exemptions.

Indian River County's comprehensive plan designates Gifford Dock Road as one of five scenic/historic roads, and its policies treat those roads as access ways, open space and recreation corridors.

Chapter 10 of the county comprehensive plan lists the five corridors as Jungle Trail, Fellsmere Grade, Quay Dock Road, Gifford Dock Road, and Old Winter Beach Road (Chapter 10, scenic and historic roads). Its location note for Gifford Dock Road reads North Gifford Road (45th Street), from US 1 to the Indian River Lagoon, including the dock site and the mitigated property from Grand Harbor. Policy 7.2 of the same chapter repeats the designation, and Policy 7.3 says these roads will be used as access ways, open space, and corridors for passive and active recreation while keeping their historical importance.

The recreation element also counts the Gifford Dock in the county's water access. In its river and lake parks section it states that the Gifford Dock Road boat dock provides county owned public access to the Indian River Lagoon (Chapter 10, river and lake parks). Its title page carries an adoption date of October 12, 2010 and lists Supplement #14, Ordinance 2016-008, adopted August 16, 2016.

The 2014 Gifford Neighborhood Plan, approved by the county commission on July 15, 2014, set an objective to consider the feasibility of a boat ramp at Gifford Dock Park.

The county's Gifford Neighborhood Plan Update page records that the Board of County Commissioners approved the plan at its July 15, 2014 meeting and that the first Gifford plan was undertaken in 2002 (Gifford Neighborhood Plan Update page). That page calls the plan grass roots work involving Gifford residents, community groups and institutions together with the county commission and the Progressive Civic League of Gifford.

In the plan itself, Objective 13 on park improvements says that by 2018 the county will consider the feasibility of building a boat ramp at Gifford Dock park, and Action 13.8 assigns the Public Works Department to study that feasibility and report to the Board of County Commissioners and the Progressive Civic League of Gifford (Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014, Objective 13). The plan's implementation table lists Action 13.8 under Public Works/County with a 2018 date. The list of issues residents raised at the July 2013 kick off meeting or on comment cards includes a request to expand plan boundaries east to river/river access at end of Gifford Dock Road, and the plan's table of issue priorities gives the item Boat Ramp on 45th, pave road 4 votes. The county's current Gifford Dock page lists two amenities, Fishing Pier and Parking (current county amenity list).