September 2022 – Across the region, people who own waterfront property have embraced the concept of a green alternative to the gray seawalls that discourage marine life. They understand that living shorelines can protect their property just as effectively, sometimes even better, than a seawall while providing ecological benefits including improved water quality and habitat for wildlife, such as fish and birds, as well as improving the aesthetics of their property.
The habitat value, and the opportunities for watching wildlife, have already led to several high-profile living shorelines, including installations at the Ulele restaurant along Tampa’s riverwalk, Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center at St. Pete Pier, in Safety Harbor, and at St. Pete College’s Bay Pines Campus.
Implementing any work within the water (below the mean high-water line) requires regulatory permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and state government agencies, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or the Southwest Florida Water Management District. If you are located within Hillsborough County, you must also secure authorization from Hillsborough County’s Environmental Protection Commission (EPC).
In 2017 the USACE created a new Nationwide Permit Exception (NWP 54) which expedites their regulatory approval process, if there are no natural resources impacts (seagrass, mangroves or oyster habitat) associated with the proposed design. FDEP also revised its regulations to mostly mimic the USACE’s permit exemption language. Recently the EPC also lowered their application fees as part of their recognition of the value of living shorelines to build them on freshwater properties. But since Port Tampa Bay owns the submerged saltwater lands in Hillsborough County, EPC’s new streamlined permitting does not apply to the estuarine waters within Hillsborough County, and they have not yet revised their enabling act to make living shorelines easier to implement.
Currently, there are several living shoreline and seawall enhancement projects being implemented around Tampa Bay. These sites not only improve the ecological conditions of these locations, but they also provide sites for waterfront residents to see these alternatives first-hand.
Examples include:
- FWC’s Suncoast Youth Conservation Center (Apollo Beach) where five design alternatives are on display
- Philippe Park living shoreline at the southern edge of the park
- Philippe Park seawall enhancement options with five design alternatives planned
- Ozone Roadside Park at the intersection of Bayshore Drive and Bay Street in Ozona has multiple living shoreline elements installed in front of the roadway retaining wall
- Treasure Bay Golf & Tennis Center is removing 30% of its seawall and replacing it with a true living shoreline and enhancing the other ⅔ with a hybrid living seawall feature.
- The City of Gulfport is implementing a living shoreline in front of their marina
- Eckerd College is implementing a complete resiliency plan which includes living shorelines where seawalls once stood and seawall enhancements activities in front of higher energy seawall locations
- Maximo Park is in the permitting stage to implement two living shorelines along their northern and southern shorelines
- St. Pete College STEM Center in Madeira Beach is also posed to implement their seawall removal and living shoreline installation later this year
- The City of Tampa just installed a living shoreline along the Hillsborough River at Ignacio Haya Linear Park
These projects add up to approximately 11,000 linear feet or 2.1 miles and were implemented on public property, which are great locations for waterfront residents to visit to see what these alternative shoreline protection options look like. However, even if every single public waterfront was transformed into a nature-based shoreline treatment that only affects approximately 20% of the waterfront lands along the bay. The real difference needs to come when private owners implement living shorelines where they can. For this to happen will require that regulatory agencies make the process as easy as possible. In support of this effort, the recent update to the Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan included support for living seawalls. The Hillsborough County Planning Commission, which maintains and updates these comprehensive plans, will add the same policy support in the upcoming update to the City of Tampa Comprehensive Plan. Public agencies also need to consider the potential for making grants available, as long as a narrow conservation easement is applied to the restored shoreline feature. One way or another, we need to encourage and make it easier to meet the TBEP’s goal to achieve one mile per year of new living shorelines to Tampa Bay.
Thomas Ries is the southeast biological services and restoration director for ESA, an environmental consulting firm where he specializes in ecosystem restoration, including stormwater retrofit and habitat restoration technologies. Tom is also president and founder of Ecosphere Restoration Institute, a not-for-profit organization focusing on public-private partnerships which has fostered living shoreline projects on over three miles of eroded coastlines.
By Thomas Ries, originally published July 27, 2022
