Permanent homes in Oriole Beach were built along Bay Street which follows an old Indian trail and, subsequently, a logging road that was used to harvest live oak trees for the construction of Civil war sailing ships by the Union Navy in the 1860s.

[citation needed] The Bay Street elevation of Oriole Beach is about 7.0 feet above mean sea level, so some homes on grade were destroyed.

Most of the hurricane debris was removed by Santa Rosa County with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant money.

[citation needed] In February 2007, the Bay Street roadway was made three feet wider and about six inches higher by the Santa Rosa County Engineering Department.

New home construction is now required by the County Land Development Code to be connected to a sanitary sewer force main rather than septic tanks, the practice before Hurricane Ivan.