{"id":279299,"date":"2026-05-21T10:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279299\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:28:17","slug":"florida-private-homeowners-making-shared-shorelines-more-resilient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279299\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida private homeowners making shared shorelines more resilient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, we learned how local municipalities have been taking the lead on making Florida’s coast more resilient through living shorelines.<\/p>\n

That means they’re replacing aging, hard infrastructure, like concrete seawalls, with softer, more natural elements, such as plants, rocks, and oyster reefs.<\/p>\n

Continuing our coverage during NPR’s Climate Solutions Week, WUSF is exploring an important factor in this effort: private homeowners.<\/p>\n

Because residents own a majority of Florida’s coastal property, one expert is trying to make living shorelines more affordable for them.<\/p>\n

St. Pete Beach<\/p>\n

The seawall across from Betty Rzewnicki’s St. Pete Beach front door is cracked, and pieces are falling into the blue-green water of Boca Ciega Bay.<\/p>\n

“After Helene and Milton, the sea wall had collapsed,\u201d said the Florida Virtual School teacher, and former city commissioner.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Florida municipalities are spearheading shoreline resiliency through nature-based solutions<\/a><\/p>\n

But this subdivision of the Don Cesar neighborhood had been discussing their shoreline’s resiliency long before the 2024 hurricanes.<\/p>\n

“This is one of the lower lying areas of St. Pete Beach, so we experienced a lot of tidal flow issues because of King Tides, and then storm water flooding issues, so all of that brought us together \u2026 maybe 11 years ago \u2026 to talk about, \u2018Hey, something’s happening here,\u2019” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Concrete seawalls, like this one in St. Pete Beach, have about a 50-year shelf life. Some residents are implementing living shorelines using natural elements which get stronger over the years instead of weaker. <\/p>\n

Those talks between Rzewnicki and her neighbors included a marine biologist named Tom Ries \u2013 he’s considered “the living shorelines guru.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve worked for the state for many years \u2026 and after doing about 80-some projects, they all only had one common denominator \u2026 they’re all on public lands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ries wanted to help private property owners by starting a nonprofit called Ecosphere Restoration Institute.<\/p>\n

“So we could use public dollars on private land, because the birds and fish don’t care who owns it, so we shouldn’t,” Ries said.<\/p>\n

Benefits <\/p>\n

Seawalls are needed in some really deep areas, but Ries said most of the time they aren\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

Still, they\u2019ve been the most popular option and Ries said that\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n

“With these vertical walls, a boat goes by, the wake hits it. Well, that wave energy goes up or down, and the part that goes down resuspends the sediment, so the water is dirtier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Tom Ries, marine biologist and founder of Ecosphere Restoration Institute, is helping private residents replace their concrete seawalls with living shorelines. He’s finding grants and public dollars for some, while helping to group others to split the cost of design and permitting. <\/p>\n

In contrast, a gradual slope made of native plants fosters marine life.<\/p>\n

But it’s not just about water quality. Ries, said his living shoreline projects held up during the back-to-back storms a couple years ago.<\/p>\n

“Happy to say the 11 out of 11 high energy sites, all of them held, while right next-door entire piers went out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It has been challenging, though, for residents to replace their failing seawall with a living shoreline.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Pinellas employees making shorelines more resilient against sea level rise and flooding<\/a><\/p>\n

The transition requires paying for design and permitting \u2013 steps that aren\u2019t required to install another traditional seawall.<\/p>\n

“So, it’s a big disincentive,\u201d Ries said.<\/p>\n

State legislators passed a law this year to make the process easier and to help with funding. It takes effect July 1.<\/p>\n

Ries just hopes it won\u2019t take too long for the state to actually implement the changes. In the meantime, he has some other options up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

\"Blue-green<\/p>\n

Betty Rzewnicki<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Courtesy<\/p>\n

The crumbling seawall across from Rzewnicki’s St. Pete Beach home abuts a public right of way so she and her neighbors qualified for city money and a grant to help replace it with a living shoreline. <\/p>\n

Ries helped Betty Rzewnicki and her St. Pete Beach neighbors get some funding to pay for designs and permitting<\/p>\n

Because their seawall abuts a public right of way they qualified for city money and a grant.<\/p>\n

“The design plans for a living shoreline … would be transferable to other property owners in our area, so you would have ready-to-go engineered plans that would meet different depths,\u201d Rzewnicki said.<\/p>\n

Her particular design includes rocks, marsh, and mangroves. They are just in the beginning stages of installation.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/p>\n

Ries has also worked with neighbors in Tampa to split the cost of design and permitting along the Hillsborough River.<\/p>\n

David Reed lives on the edge of downtown in the Ridgewood Park community, which was flooded by Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n

“The river came over the bank with the storm surge, so our property was completely covered in water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The shoreline behind his house just had some rip rap and poured concrete to protect his property, and it had been eroding over time with increased boat traffic.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

David Reed split the cost of design and permitting for a living shoreline with his neighbors, but has been personally installing large pieces of lime rock to avoid some of the hefty construction costs. <\/p>\n

Some research and phone calls led him to Tom Ries.<\/p>\n

The \u201cliving shorelines guru\u201d shepherded Reed and a couple of his neighbors through design and permitting … which came out to $25,000 split three ways.<\/p>\n

“We did get some benefits from all doing it together, and then we got to a point where we were ready to go ahead and build the shoreline, and it is very expensive,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

Construction costs tripled after the pandemic shutdown. Reed got a $90,000 estimate for his portion.<\/p>\n

Although his neighbors gave up, Reed decided to do it himself.<\/p>\n

He bought five tons of lime rock. Using his truck, a wheelbarrow, and his own two hands, he manually filled his shoreline rock-by-rock.<\/p>\n

“It was a lot of work, but it was doable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The design calls for soil, plants, and another 25 tons of rock, but Reed said, \u201cI think that would be the end of me.”<\/p>\n

So, he’s planning to hire a crew to help him finish by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Limestone not only helps to break up wave energy, it also provides a porous, pH-neutral surface which allows marine life to thrive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, we learned how local municipalities have been taking the lead on making Florida’s coast more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-279299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}