{"id":271184,"date":"2026-05-14T18:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271184\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:05:49","slug":"living-seawall-how-a-waterfront-church-in-fort-lauderdale-is-making-a-historic-impact-on-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271184\/","title":{"rendered":"Living seawall: How a waterfront church in Fort Lauderdale is making a historic impact on the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By Carlton Gillespie \/ WLRN News<\/p>\n

It started as just a swim in the canal for 12-year-old Cruz Yturralde, explains his father, Harry Rozelle.<\/p>\n

\u201cCruz loves the water, and he loves to fish, and so does my other son, so they\u2019re always in the water. \u200aI used to tell them, \u2018You guys, that water is not so great all the time. Make sure you jump through the pool.\u2019 At the time I was thinking I was a good parent telling them to go through the chlorine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Just a few days later, the child\u2019s stomach began to hurt. The pain got so bad he was taken to the emergency room and had to stay overnight. He had contracted E.coli and salmonella from his short swim.<\/p>\n

It was during Yturralde\u2019s hospital stay that Rozelle had a conversation with a neighbor who told him a potential solution to the water quality problem that led to Yturralde\u2019s sickness: living seawalls.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aWhat is a living seawall? I have no idea. I never heard of it, but I\u2019m all ears,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AFort Lauderdale\u2019s Church-by-the-Sea<\/p>\n

Living seawalls use 3-D printed designs to promote marine biodiversity. These \u201cbio-mimic\u201d designs look similar to mangrove roots embedded in the printed slabs. One of the main benefits is oyster repopulation. Oysters are exceptional for water quality. A single oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water per day.<\/p>\n

Rozelle took the idea to The Church-by-the-Sea where he serves as treasurer. Located East of the 17th Street Causeway on Fort Lauderdale\u2019s barrier island, the church has 980 feet of seawall. That seawall has been in place for decades now and the looming threat of sea level rise meant it needed to be replaced and raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople got very excited about the chance to fix the seawall \u2014 that we need to do \u2014 and benefit the whole community by cleaning up the water,\u201d said Brian Cecchio, the church\u2019s senior pastor. \u201cThe spiritual side of that is that we\u2019re commissioned by God all the way back in Genesis 1 to take care of the Earth that He\u2019s provided for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2713<\/p>\n

Check your inbox for a confirmation email.<\/p>\n

A new living seawall is expected to attract enough oyster growth to filter 1 million gallons of water per day.<\/p>\n

The church teamed up with Kind Designs<\/a>, a Miami-based startup that creates living seawalls, and began soliciting donations for the project, which came with a $1.75 million price tag. In fact, the church says the living seawall design actually saves about a dollar per foot of seawall.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST: The Miami Tech Pod interviews Kind Designs CEO Anya Freeman about how she left a legal career to build Kind Designs and what\u2019s ahead for the Miami-based climatetech and constructiontech startup reinventing coastal infrastructure by making seawalls cheaper, stronger, and alive. Listen here<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Donations began pouring in for what the church claims is the largest privately-funded living seawall project in Florida\u2019s history. While many members of the congregation gave, some were from as far away as Australia and gave through\u00a0the project\u2019s website<\/a>. To date they\u2019ve raised nearly $1.6 million.<\/p>\n

The church also got a boost from the City of Fort Lauderdale, who recently launched a living seawall incentive program. That program covers up to 100% of the permitting fees for living seawall projects.<\/p>\n

The project also includes an observation deck, which Cecchio says can inspire others to take on a similar project.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aOur hope is that people in the community that are curious about what we\u2019ve done being able to do that in their own property so that the cleaning effort continues around Fort Lauderdale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The project is expected to break ground soon and finish in Spring of 2027.<\/p>\n

Carlton Gillespie is a writer for WLRN\u00a0News, South Florida\u2019s only public radio station. This story was originally published by\u00a0WLRN\u00a0News.org<\/a>, a content partner with Refresh Miami.<\/p>\n

Pictured at the top of this post: A rendering of the proposed living seawall project at The Church by the Sea in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:<\/p>\n

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